8. Iris pumila L. (dwarf bearded iris)

Pl. 90 a; Map 349

Rhizomes lacking conspicuously thickened areas, compact. Aerial stems nearly absent, 1–2 cm long, much shorter than the leaves, erect to ascending. Leaves more or less basal, 3–15 cm long, 4–15 mm wide, mostly erect. Flowers 1 per aerial stem, terminal, the spathelike bracts unequal, 5–10 cm long, herbaceous to somewhat membranous, green, the inner bract lighter green. Sepals 5–9 cm long (including the fused portion), widely spreading or arching downward, obovate, with a conspicuous beard of long, coarse hairs extending in a line from the narrow base onto the lower half of the broader, apical portion, green in the fused portion, the remainder reddish purple (yellow or blue elsewhere) with a yellow or blue beard. Petals slightly shorter and narrower than the sepals, erect with the tips arching inward, reddish purple (yellow or blue elsewhere). Capsules 4–7 cm long, oblong-elliptic in outline, 3-angled, with a single rib at each angle. 2n=30, 32. March–April.

Introduced, escaped from cultivation in Boone and Washington Counties (native to Europe, widely cultivated, but rarely becoming naturalized in North America). Disturbed areas.