Red Iris

(Iris fulva)

 

Color Photograph: Copyright by and courtesty of Kenneth Walker

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Red Iris (Iris fulva)

Identification: Flowers orange-red, complicated in structure with petals and sepals all showy. Flower with 3 lower "sepals" hanging downward, base with a shoehorn-like appendage (crest). "Sepals" veined with dark red at the base. Upper 3 "petals" narrow and pointing generally upward. Seed pods elongate, ovate. Leaves sword-shaped, elongate, flattened and overlaping each other. Plant 2 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Found primarily in the lower Mississippi Valley drainage from southern Illinois and Kentucky southward to Florida and Texas.

Habitat: Red Iris is found in swamps, river and lake shores, and in ditches.

Flowering period: May to June.

Red Iris (Iris fulva)

Similar Species:

Red Iris is easily identified by its red-orange flower color.

Similar Species

No Similar Species