Slender Blue Iris

The slender blue iris (iris prismatica) blooms in North Carolina wetlands, mainly near the coast. The blue to violet flowers appear May through June. They are up to three and one-half inches wide.

Lovely, graceful and rare, prismatica is listed on the endangered or threatened plants lists of at least six states. North Carolina is not one of them.

Blooming near them, you may find the larger and more common blue flag (iris versicolor), whose leaves are about one-half of an inch wide. Slender blue flag iris leaves are one-quarter to one-third of an inch wide. They are pointed and flattened, rising fan-like from their base.

Flowering stems are typically not more that two and a half feet tall, rising from underground rhizomes.

They thrive in both fresh and brackish water.

Scientific Classification

• Superdivision: Spermatophyta (seed plants)
• Division: Magnoliophyta (flowering plants)
• Class: Liliopsida (Monocotyledons)
• Subclass: Liliidae
• Order: Liliales
• Family: Iridaceae (iris family)
• Genus: Iris
• Species: Iris prismatica Pursh ex Ker-Gawl (slender blue iris)

References

US Department of Agriculture Plant Index

USDA Plants Profile of Iris prismatica

US Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center: Northeast Wetland Flora Field Office Guide to Plant Species Iris prismatica Pursh page