Flora of the Southeastern United States

Iris Linnaeus. Common name: Iris, Flag, Fleur-de-Lis, Blackberry-lily.

Key to Iris

A genus of about 225 species, herbs, of Eurasia, n. Africa, and North America. Wilson (2004) suggests that Belamcanda is phylogenetically nested within Iris and should be included there; Goldblatt & Mabberley (2005) make the appropriate nomenclatural combination. Alternatively, Iris may be broken up into multiple genera (Mavrodiev et al. 2014; Crespo, Martínez-Azorín, & Mavrodiev 2015; Mavrodiev et al. 2021).

Key advice:The petals are usually erect, smaller than the petaloid sepals (which are brightly colored, generally reflexed, and marked with a "signal"). The styles are also petaloid, arched over the sepals, and 2-cleft at the tip (except in I. domestica).

References: Boltenkov et al. (2020); Crespo (2013) In Rico et al. (2013); Crespo, Martínez-Azorín, & Mavrodiev (2015); Fernald (1947); Goldblatt (2002b) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2002a); Goldblatt & Mabberley (2005); Goldblatt, Manning, & Rudall (1998) In Kubitzki (1998a); Henderson (2002) In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2002a); Mavrodiev et al. (2014); Mavrodiev et al. (2021); Wilson (2004). Show full citations.

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