{{About||the yellow flag iris|Iris pseudacorus|the southern blue flag iris|Iris virginica}} {{short description|Species of plant}} {{Speciesbox |image = Blue Flag, Ottawa.jpg<!-- Iris_versicolor_FWS.jpg --> |genus = Iris |display_parents = 3 |parent = Iris ser. Laevigatae |species = versicolor |status = LC |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn|author=Maiz-Tome, L.|year=2016|title=''Iris versicolor''|article-number=e.T64315086A67729756|doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T64315086A67729756.en|access-date=2 July 2023}}</ref> |authority = L. }}
'''''Iris versicolor''''' or '''''Iris versicolour''''' is also commonly known as the '''blue flag''', '''harlequin blueflag''', '''larger blue flag''', '''northern blue flag''',<ref>ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, 2004.</ref> and '''poison flag''', plus other variations of these names,<ref name=ontario>{{cite web | title=Blue Flag Iris | url=http://ontariowildflowers.com/main/species.php?id=508 | website=Ontario Wildflowers | first=Walter | last=Muma | publisher=ontariowildflowers.com | access-date=12 November 2014}}</ref><ref>Thomas Lathrop Stedman (editor) {{Google books|XzvU0qd4IQkC|Stedman's Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing |page=406}}</ref> and in Great Britain and Ireland as '''purple iris'''.<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17}}</ref>
It is a species of ''Iris'' native to North America, in Eastern Canada and the Eastern United States. It is common in sedge meadows, marshes, and along streambanks and shores. The specific epithet ''versicolor'' means "variously coloured".<ref>{{Cite book |first=W.T. |last=Stearn |year=2004 |title=Botanical Latin |edition=4th (p/b) |location=Portland, Oregon |isbn=978-0-7153-1643-6 |publisher=Timber Press |page=527}}</ref>
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.<ref name="fisher36">{{cite journal |author=R. A. Fisher |year=1936 |title=The use of multiple measurements in taxonomic problems |journal=Annals of Eugenics |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=179–188 |url=http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/coll/special//fisher/138.pdf |doi=10.1111/j.1469-1809.1936.tb02137.x |hdl=2440/15227 |hdl-access=free |access-date=2015-08-30 |archive-date=2011-04-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110412084958/http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/coll/special//fisher/138.pdf }}</ref>
==Description== {{unsourced|section|date=July 2023}} ''Iris versicolor'' is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant, growing {{convert|10|–|80|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} high. ([https://www.gardenia.net/plant/iris-versicolor]) It tends to form large clumps from thick, creeping rhizomes. The unwinged, erect stems generally have basal leaves that are more than {{convert|1|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} wide. Leaves are folded on the midribs so that they form an overlapping flat fan. The well developed blue flower has six petals and sepals 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 three-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 rhizomes, which have been found to contain a glycoside, iridin. The sap can cause dermatitis in susceptible individuals.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}
==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.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Elias|first1=Thomas S.|title=Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods|last2=Dykeman|first2=Peter A.|publisher=Sterling|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4027-6715-9|location=New York|page=261|oclc=244766414|orig-date=1982}}</ref> Iris rhizomes and rootstocks contain a purgative irritant, called irisin, iridin, or irisine, causing gastroenteritis if ingested in large amounts, and may be protective against herbivory by rabbits and deer.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cornellbotanicgardens.org/plant/wild-iris|title=Wild Iris|work=Cornell Botanic Gardens}}</ref>
Blue iris was widely used medicinally by Native Americans externally on burns, wounds, swellings and sores, and internally for liver and kidney disease, among other uses.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/iris/versicolor/|title=Go Botany, Native Plant Trust|work=Iris versicolor-- blue iris}}</ref>
The iris has been used as magical plant, with people carrying the root (or rhizome) to get 'financial gain', or placed in cash registers to increase business.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=Scott |title=Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs |url=https://archive.org/details/cunninghamsencyc00cunn_0 |url-access=registration |date=1999 |publisher=Llewellyn |page=[https://archive.org/details/cunninghamsencyc00cunn_0/page/168 168] |isbn=0-87542-122-9}}</ref>
==Symbolism== The iris is the official state flower of the U.S. state of Tennessee. 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.state.tn.us/education/websymbs.shtml|title=State of Tennessee|work=state.tn.us}}</ref>
The blue flag has been the provincial flower of Quebec since 1999, having replaced the Madonna lily which is not native to the province.<ref>{{in lang|fr}} Gouvernement du Québec [http://www.drapeau.gouv.qc.ca/emblemes/iris/fiche-technique.html Emblèmes du Québec - ''Iris versicolor''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721153927/http://www.drapeau.gouv.qc.ca/emblemes/iris/fiche-technique.html |date=2015-07-21 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Harlequin blue flag (Iris versicolor), our floral emblem |url=https://espacepourlavie.ca/en/harlequin-blue-flag-iris-versicolor-our-floral-emblem |website=Espace pour la Vie Montréal |access-date=3 May 2022}}</ref>
The purple iris is the official flower of Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AConstitution_of_Kappa_Pi.pdf|title=International Constitution of Kappa Pi|last=Article I|first=Section 2|publisher=Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity Inc.}}{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
==Gallery== <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 File:Iris versicolor 0007.jpg|Saint-Prosper-de-Champlain, Quebec, Canada File:Iris versicolor.jpg|Batiscan, Quebec floral emblem, Canada<ref name="Emblems of Quebec">{{cite web |title=Emblems of Quebec |url=https://www.quebec.ca/gouvernement/portrait-quebec/drapeau-symboles-nationaux/emblemes |website=Quebec Gouvernement |access-date=25 June 2024 |language=fr |date=2024 |quote=There are three official emblems in Quebec: the yellow birch, the snowy owl and the versicolor iris.}}</ref> </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310215212/http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/mnplant/irve.htm USGS.gov: Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin] {{Commons category|position=left}} {{Floral Emblems of Canada}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q164844}}
versicolor Category:Flora of Eastern Canada Category:Flora of the Eastern United States Category:Flora of the Appalachian Mountains Category:Flora of the Great Lakes region Category:Garden plants of North America Category:Flora of Ontario Category:Provincial symbols of Quebec Category:Plants described in 1753 Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Symbols of Tennessee