Iris savannarum facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Iris savannarum |
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Iris
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| Species: |
savannarum
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Iris savannarum is a beautiful wild flower often called the prairie iris. It's a type of iris plant that grows back year after year (a perennial). It spreads using underground stems called rhizomes. This iris belongs to the Iris genus, specifically in the Limniris subgenus and the hexagonae group.
The prairie iris was first described in 1925 by a scientist named Small. For a while, some experts thought it was just a type of Iris hexagona. However, in 2002, another scientist, Henderson, showed that Iris savannarum is its own unique species. This was later confirmed by Daniel Ward in 2011.
Like most irises, Iris savannarum has two sets of chromosomes. This helps scientists understand how different iris types are related. This plant has 44 chromosomes.
Scientists have also studied Iris savannarum to see if it can help clean up soil. It was found that this iris can be useful for phytostabilisation. This means it can help keep harmful substances, like arsenic, from spreading in the soil. Even though the plant grows well in contaminated soil, it doesn't store the arsenic in its own tissues. Because it can be harvested many times a year, it's a good choice for this type of environmental cleanup.
Iris savannarum is listed on the National Wetland Plant List. This shows it's an important plant found in wetlands. You can find plant samples of it at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario Herbarium. This iris has also been crossed with the Iris fulva to create a new hybrid iris called Iris × cacique.
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What Does the Prairie Iris Look Like?
The prairie iris is different from Iris hexagona in a few ways. For example, its seed capsules are round, while Iris hexagona has hexagonal ones. Also, Iris savannarum has bright green leaves, but Iris hexagona has yellow-green leaves. Plus, the prairie iris flowers about a month earlier.
This iris has greenish underground stems called rhizomes. They are about 2 to 2.5 centimeters wide. These rhizomes branch out easily and can form large groups of plants, sometimes covering a whole acre! Be careful, though, because the rhizomes are poisonous to humans.
The plant's stems grow to be about 30 to 100 centimeters tall. Each stem usually has one branch.
The leaves are bright green and look like grass. They grow from the bottom of the plant and can be 60 to 100 centimeters long and 0.8 to 2 centimeters wide. After the plant finishes flowering, the leaves usually die back.
Flowers and Seeds
The prairie iris flowers in the spring and early summer, usually from March to April. Each stem can have one to three flowers. These flowers come in different shades of blue, from violet-blue to a true blue, and sometimes even white. The white version was once thought to be a different species called Iris albispiritis, but now we know it's just a white form of Iris savannarum.
The sepals, which are part of the flower, are blue or pale violet. They often have white flecks and dark blue lines. They are about 7 to 8 centimeters long. The center of the sepal has a yellow ridge with a light green base.
After flowering, the iris produces a bright green, oval-shaped seed capsule. It's about 6 to 10 centimeters long. These capsules have six sharp, wing-like ridges that meet at the top. Inside, you'll find brown, round or diamond-shaped seeds, about 8 to 12 millimeters wide.
The seed capsules can be quite heavy. They often bend the flower stems down to the ground or into the water, depending on where the plant is growing. When the seeds are released, they can float on water because they have a cork-like coating. They can also be carried by the wind, helping new groups of irises grow in other places.
How Pollination Works
Insects, especially bees, help pollinate the prairie iris. The iris flower has a small flap that protects its stigma, which is the part that receives pollen. This flap helps prevent the flower from pollinating itself. When a bee lands on the flower to collect pollen, it brushes past this flap to get to the anther, where the pollen is. The bee picks up pollen from the anther and also drops off pollen it collected from other flowers. As the bee leaves, it brushes the stigma flap again, closing it.
Where Does the Prairie Iris Grow?
Iris savannarum is found in the southeastern United States. You can see it growing wild in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. It's special because it's the iris species that grows the furthest south in the United States.
It's very common in Florida, where it grows in many small to medium-sized groups. Its range in Florida goes all the way down to Sarasota County and even to Big Cypress Swamp in Monroe County.
This iris loves open freshwater swamps. It also grows well in rich, sandy soils and even in poor, sandy soils. It can handle both soils that are wet all year round and soils that get dry.
