Species Iris, Zig Zag Iris

Gathered from Wabash River flood plain, Wabash Co., IL; planted by street-side ditch, 431 E. 8th, Mt. Carmel, IL, ca. 1957; transplanted ...Read Moreto swampy backyard, Kingwood, Tx, 1989; transplanted 530 miles n.e., and 3000 feet higher, to Lubbock, TX, ca. 1995. Lubbock Iris Society members delight in its beauty and hardiness.

I. brevicaulis is the shortest and the broadest of the five natural species of Louisiana iris, with its flowers "borne from near the base...Read More and always amid the foilage, never above the foilage," (The Louisiana Iris--The Taming of a Native American Wildflower, second edition by The Society for Louisiana Irises). It was found naturally growing in dryer conditions than the other four species, in pastures and prairies that were often wet during the growing season. The oldest known Louisiana iris, a pink variant of I. brevicaulis named 'Pink Joy Roberts,' was supposedly collected over 150 years ago

I. brevicaulis was found growing extensively from South Louisiana all the way up the Mississippi River Valley to the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio. Its flowers are generally blue, and rarely pure white, with the top (terminal) flowers two-flowered, and the flowers along the stem also often two-flowered. The plant is quite cold hardy, blooming late in Louisiana in mid-May. As of the year 2000 there are still wild colonies of I. breviacaulis doing well in "moist bluff areas."

One of the parent species of the'Louisiana Iris', this species easily hybridizes with I. fulva, I. nelsonii, and I. giganticaerulea. One...Read More of its most distinguishing features is the zig-zag bends of the flower stalks.

A well behaved perennial which proliferates under favorable garden conditions from pond gardens to perennial borders. Grows well far outside of its native range. (gulf coast).

Flowers attract hummers and bees and range in the blue end of the spectrum.