Iris hexagona

Walter

Fl. Carol., 66. 1788.

Common names: Carolina iris
IllustratedEndemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 26. Treatment on page 392. Mentioned on page 374, 391, 393, 394.

Rhizomes greenish with brown leaf-scars, branching from older buds quite some distance proximal to apex, forming widely scattered colonies, 2–2.5 cm diam. Stems 1–2-branched, solid, 3–9 dm. Leaves: basal stiffly erect, blade yellow-green, lightly ribbed, 8–9 dm × 2–3 cm; cauline 1–2, foliaceous, blade 1.2–2 dm, exceeding subtended flower. Inflorescence units 1–2-flowered, branch units 1-flowered; spathes lanceolate, subequal or unequal, apex acute; outer foliaceous, 15–20 cm, usually exceeding flower; inner 8–10 cm, herbaceous, with scarious margins. Flowers: perianth blue to violet, rarely white; floral-tube funnelform, grooved in line with grooves of ovary, 2–3 cm; sepals spreading horizontally, obovate to oval, 8–8.5 × 4 cm, claw greenish with prominent yellow midrib which pubescent on each side at base, apex rounded; petals erect or spreading-erect, oblanceolate to spatulate, 7–9 × 2 cm, claw veined with green; ovary roundly triangular in cross-section, with wide grooves at angles and concave sides, 2–3 cm; style convex laterally from central reddish ridge, 3.5–5 cm, narrower than claw of sepals, crests erect, overlapping, semiovate to triangular, 1–5 cm, margins coarsely toothed; stigmas 2-lobed, lobes triangular or rounded-deltoid, margins entire; pedicel 2.5–3.5 cm. Capsules hexagonal in cross-section, with 3 alternate sides plane, others with 2 rounded ridges with shallow groove between them, 2.5–3.5 × 2–2.5 cm. Seeds in 2 rows per locule, light-brown, D-shaped or irregularly rounded, 4–6 mm, corky. 2n = 44.


Phenology: Flowering Apr–May.
Habitat: Margins of wetlands, low roadsides

Discussion

Iris hexagona is one of the rarest of all our native irises. We had seen herbarium specimens from seven localities in five counties of South Carolina. In searching for living plants at each of these sites we found that six of the seven are now under the water of Lake Moultrie. After extensive searching, one small population has been located at the other site, in a state park at Charleston, which is being watched carefully by the rangers of the park. A good-sized population has since been found in Dixie County, Florida, north of the small town of Shamrock, and another in neighboring Taylor County. These two populations are in the drainage system of Georgia, which in turn is fed by some of the streams from South Carolina. So far, though, I. hexagona has not been found in Georgia.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

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... more about "Iris hexagona"
dehiscing +  and latrorse +
rounded +  and acute +
Norlan C. Henderson +
Walter +
Iris subsect. Hexagonae +
yellow-green +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
additional +
cordlike +
enlarging +
proximal +
hexagonal +
Carolina iris +
overlapping +
semiovate +  and triangular +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +  and 5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (?) +
monochasial +
Fla. +  and S.C. +
distinct or;partly completely connate +
ridged +  and terete +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
sessile +  and pedicellate +
fragrant +
upward-facing +
hollow +, solid +, branched +  and simple +
flattened +, terete +  and cordlike +
indehiscent +  and loculicidal +
woody;firm;cartilaginous +
Margins of wetlands, low roadsides +
multicellular +
8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br /> (10 cm100 mm <br />0.1 m <br />) +
distinct +
cauline +  and basal +
scale-like +
distinct +
conspicuous +
rounded-deltoid +  and triangular +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
triangular +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br /> (3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br />) +
white +, blue +  and violet +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (18 cm180 mm <br />0.18 m <br />) +
differentiated +
spreading-erect +  and erect +
oblanceolate +  and spatulate +
reduced +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (?) +
Flowering Apr–May. +
Fl. Carol., +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
heterogeneous +
rounded +
tan;dark-brown +
conspicuously roughened +  and extensively corky +
light-brown +
4 +  and 20 +
rounded;d--shaped +
0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
obovate +  and oval +
expanding +
4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br /> (?) +
plane +  and concave +
persisting +
lanceolate +
unequal +  and subequal +
Illustrated +  and Endemic +
monochasial +
solid +  and 1-2-branched +
3.5 cm35 mm <br />0.035 m <br /> (?) +  and 5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (?) +
narrower +
Undefined subg. Limniris +
Iris hexagona +
Iris (sect. Limniris) ser. Hexagonae +
species +
connate +  and distinct +
scarious +
spathaceous +  and more-flowered +
obscure;prominent +
indehiscent +
hardened +  and papery +
unequal +