Flower Garden Lovers

Flying the Blue Flag (Iris) in the Wildflower Garden

Blue Flag Iris is another of our wildflower treasures. Other names for blue flag are flag lily, snake lily, poison flag, water flag, liver lily, American fleur-de-lis or flower-de-luce. There are a few more besides. A picture of Blue Flag Iris can be seen in the poster section below.

As with most irises, Blue Flag prefers full sun and moist soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. Although it is a wildflower it will do well in the flower garden if planted in soil kept moist.

Blue Flag can be raised from seed or from the rhizomes. The rhizomes can be planted in either the spring or the fall about six to twelve inches apart. Plant them barely below the surface of the soil. You will want the tip to be just at the soil surface. If planted from seed, start with the seeds being sown in a moist peat moss filled flat. After the seedlings appear the next spring, transfer them to a protected bed where they can be grown for a year before transplanting them to their permament location in your wildflower garden.

LARGER BLUE FLAG; BLUE IRIS; FLEUR-DE-LIS; FLOWER-DE-LUCE
(Iris versicolor) Iris family

Flowers - Several, 2 to 3 in. long, violet-blue variegated with yellow, green, or white, and purple veined. Six divisions of the perianth: 3 outer ones spreading, recurved; 1 of them bearded, much longer and wider than the 3 erect inner divisions; all united into a short tube. Three stamens under 3 overhanging petal-like divisions of the style, notched at end; under each notch is a thin plate, smooth on one side, rough and moist (stigma) on side turned away from anther.

Stem: 2 to 3 ft. high, stout, straight, almost circular, sometimes branching above.

Leaves: Erect, sword-shaped, shorter than stem, somewhat hoary, from 1/2 to 1 in. wide, folded, and in a compact flat cluster at base; bracts usually longer than stem of flower.

Fruit: Oblong capsule, not prominently 3-lobed, and with 2 rows of round, flat seeds closely packed in each cell.

Rootstock: Creeping, horizontal, fleshy.

Preferred Habitat - Marshes, wet meadows.

Flowering Season - May-July.

Distribution - Newfoundland and Manitoba to Arkansas and Florida.

"The fleur-de-lys, which is the flower of chivalry," says Ruskin, "has a sword for its leaf and a lily for its heart." When that young and pious Crusader, Louis VII, adopted it for the emblem of his house, spelling was scarcely an exact science, and the fleur-de-Louis soon became corrupted into its present form. Doubtless the royal flower was the white iris, and as li is the Celtic for white, there is room for another theory as to the origin of the name. It is our far more regal looking, but truly democratic blossom, jostling its fellows in the marshes, that is indeed "born in the purple."

When Napoleon wished to pose as the true successor of those ancient French kings whose territory included the half of Europe - ignoring every Louis who ever sat on the throne, for their very name and emblem had become odious to the people - he discarded the fleur-de-lis, to replace it with golden bees, the symbol in armory for industry and perseverance. It is said some relics of gold and fine stones, somewhat resembling an insect in shape, had been found in the tomb of Clovis's father, and on the supposition that these had been bees, Napoleon appropriated them for the imperial badge. Henceforth "Napoleonic bees" appeared on his coronation robe and wherever a heraldic emblem could be employed.

But even in the meadows of France, Napoleon need not have looked far from the fleurs-de-lis growing there to find bees. Indeed, this gorgeous flower is thought by scientists to be all that it is for the bees' benefit, which, of course, is its own also. Abundant moisture, from which to manufacture nectar - a prime necessity with most irises - certainly is for our blue flag. The large showy blossom cannot but attract the passing bee, whose favorite color (according to Sir John Lubbock) it waves. The bee alights on the convenient, spreading platform, and, guided by the dark veining and golden lines leading to the nectar, sips the delectable fluid shortly to be changed to honey. Now, as he raises his head and withdraws it from the nectary, he must rub it against the pollen-laden anther above, and some of the pollen necessarily falls on the visitor. As the sticky side of the plate (stigma), just under the petal-like division of the style, faces away from the anther, which is below it in any case, the flower is marvelously guarded against fertilization from its own pollen.

The bee, flying off to another iris, must first brush past the projecting lip of the over-arching style, and leave on the stigmatic outer surface of the plate some of the pollen brought from the first flower, before reaching the nectary. Thus cross-fertilization is effected; and Darwin has shown how necessary this is to insure the most vigorous and beautiful offspring. Without this wonderful adaptation of the flower to the requirements of its insect friends, and of the insect to the needs of the flower, both must perish; the former from hunger, the latter because unable to perpetuate its race. And yet man has greedily appropriated all the beauties of the floral kingdom as designed for his sole delight

The name iris, meaning a deified rainbow, which was given this group of plants by the ancients, shows a fine appreciation of their superb coloring, their ethereal texture, and the evanescent beauty of the blossom.

The Blue Flag Iris has some homeopathic properties. It has been listed as a homeopathic remedy for shingles and migraine. However you may wish to be very careful about this. It is considered a poisonous plant or at least the rhizomes are. It has been mistaken for Sweet Flag which it resembles especially when not in flower.

Historically Blue Flag has been used to treat a wide range of ailments ranging from constipation and skin disease to inducing labor. This is strange as some sources say the "juice" of the plant can cause dermatitis and as you see above, it is considered poisonous. Additonally a substance, iridin, is prepared commercially from the Blue Flag Iris and used as a cathartic and/or a purgative and liver stimulant. Different sources say different things.

Whatever the medicinal or homeopathic uses of Blue Flag Iris are, this is a beautiful wildflower which you may wish to consider for use in your wildflower garden. Each stem bears two to six blooms so it will be sure to give you a show in a mass planting. Like most irises, it likes the moist soil and therefore would be good placed in a water garden setting. Definitely consider this lovely if you are not in a location where providing the required moisture to your flower garden would be a problem. Just don't let any little ones near when planting the rhizomes and wear gloves when tending this part of your wildflower garden, just to be on the safe side.

© 2005, Sandra Dinkins-Wilson

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