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.