''Iris versicolor'' is also commonly known as the blue flag, harlequin blueflag, larger blue flag, northern blue flag, and poison flag, plus other variations of these names, and in Britain and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

as purple iris. It is a species of '' Iris'' native to North America, in the Eastern United States and

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...

. It is common in sedge meadows, marshes, and along streambanks and shores. The specific epithet ''versicolor'' means "variously coloured". It is one of the three ''Iris'' species in the ''Iris'' flower data set outlined by Ronald Fisher in his 1936 paper "The use of multiple measurements in taxonomic problems" as an example of

linear discriminant analysis Linear discriminant analysis (LDA), normal discriminant analysis (NDA), or discriminant function analysis is a generalization of Fisher's linear discriminant, a method used in statistics and other fields, to find a linear combination of features ...

Description

''Iris versicolor'' is a flowering

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

, growing high. It tends to form large clumps from thick, creeping

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s. The unwinged, erect

stem Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

s generally have basal

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

that are more than wide. Leaves are folded on the midribs so that they form an overlapping flat fan. The well developed blue flower has 6

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s and

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s spread out nearly flat and have two forms. The longer sepals are hairless and have a greenish-yellow blotch at their base. The inferior ovary is bluntly angled. Flowers are usually light to deep blue (purple and violet are not uncommon) and bloom during May to July. Fruit is a 3-celled, bluntly angled capsule. The large seeds can be observed floating in fall.

Chemical constituents

The species has been implicated in several poisoning cases of humans and animals who consumed the

s, which have been found to contain a

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

iridin Iridin is an isoflavone, a type of flavonoid. It is the 7-glucoside of irigenin and can be isolated from several species of irises like orris root, ''Iris florentina'' or ''Iris versicolor'', also commonly known as the larger blue flag. It can als ...

. The

sap Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...

can cause

dermatitis Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved can v ...

in susceptible individuals.

Toxicity and uses

Both the leaves and roots are poisonous, and can cause stomach and intestinal inflammation. Consuming the plant can be fatal to calves. The iris has been used as magical plant, with people carrying the root (or rhizome) to get 'financial gain', or it was placed in

cash registers In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immed ...

to increase business.

Symbolism

The iris is the official state flower of the U.S. state of

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. This designation was made in 1933 by the state legislature. Although the law does not specifically define a type of iris, it is generally accepted that the purple iris is the state flower. The blue flag has been the provincial flower of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

since 1999, having replaced the

Madonna lily ''Lilium candidum'', the Madonna lily or white lily, is a plant in the true lily family. It is native to the Balkans and Middle East, and naturalized in other parts of Europe, including France, Italy, and Ukraine, and in North Africa, the Canary ...

which is not native to the province. The Purple Iris is the official flower of Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity.

Gallery

File:Blue Flag (Iris versicolor) - United States National Arboretum - (1).jpg, Iris versicolor 'Blue Flag' File:Iris versicolor MHNT.BOT.2009.7.16.jpg, ''Iris versicolor'' File:American Medicinal Plants-173-0967-Iris versicolor.jpg, ''Iris versicolor'' - botanical illustration in '' American Medicinal Plants'', 1887

References

External links

USGS.gov: Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin
{{Taxonbar, from=Q164844 versicolor Flora of Eastern Canada Flora of the Eastern United States Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America) Garden plants of North America Flora of Ontario Provincial symbols of Quebec Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus