The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California

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  • Up-to-date information about California vascular plants is available from the Jepson eFlora.

Names are linked to treatments from the Manual


Key to IRIS

N.B.: couplets are linked, e.g., 1. is linked to 1'.

  1. Rhizome generally 10–40 mm diam; stigma 2-lobed or rounded; fruit often >> 5 cm (sect. Longipetalae)
 
    2. Leaf 10–25 mm wide; flower stem 5–15 dm, branched; flowers many
 I. pseudacorus
    2' Leaf 3–9 mm wide; flower stem 2–6 dm, rarely branched; flowers 1–8
 
      3. Lowest 2 bracts generally alternate (5–100 mm apart), not scarious or only so near tip, lower of these 7–15 cm; flowers 3–6
 I. longipetala
      3' Lowest 2 bracts opposite, generally scarious, outer of these 4–8 cm; flowers generally 2
 I. missouriensis
  1' Rhizome generally 3–10 mm diam (except Iris tenax); stigma triangular, truncate, tongue-shaped, or rounded; fruit often < 5 cm (sect. Californicae)
 
    4. Perianth tube 5–12 mm, generally stout
 
      5. Lowest 2 bracts opposite, adherent at base, not spreading; leaves dark green on 1 side, pale yellow on the other, some bract-like — perianth yellow
 I. bracteata
      5' Lowest 2 bracts generally alternate, free, spreading; leaves colored ± equally on both sides, none or few bract-like
 
        6. Flower stem < 7 dm, generally 3-flowered; leaf 9–20 mm wide; lowest bract 8–14 mm wide; petals 5–9.5 cm
 I. munzii
        6' Flower stem seldom >> 4 dm, 1–3-flowered; leaf generally < 10 mm wide; lowest bract 3–9 mm wide; petals 3.5–6 cm
 I. hartwegii in part
          7. Flowers 3-> subsp.columbiana
          7' Flowers 1–2
 
            8. Lowest bract 6–9 mm wide; leaf base generally with some red pigment
 subsp. australis
            8' Lowest bract 4–7 mm wide; leaf base generally without red pigment
 subsp. hartwegii
    4' Perianth tube 11–120 mm, slender to ± stout
 
      9. Lowest 2 bracts alternate, spreading; flowers 1–2; perianth tube (above ovary) 11–20 mm
 
        10. Perianth tube 11–15 mm, abruptly flaring, throat distinct; sepals narrowly oblanceolate, 1.2–2 cm wide; leaf base with little or no red pigment; style crest very slender
 I. hartwegii subsp. pinetorum
        10' Perianth tube 11–20 mm, gradually flaring, throat indistinct; sepals oblanceolate to widely obovate, 1.5–2.4 cm wide; leaf base with obvious red pigment; style crest narrowly ovate
 I. tenax subsp. klamathensis
      9' Lowest 2 bracts opposite (if alternate, flowers 3); perianth tube almost always 15–120 mm
 
        11. Stigmas truncate or rounded, margins generally minutely and irregularly toothed
 I. purdyi
        11' Stigmas triangular, tongue-shaped, or rounded, margins entire (rarely minutely but regularly toothed)
 
          12. Perianth tube 10–30 mm
 
            13. Stem sometimes branched; lowest bract lanceolate, 6–15.5 cm, generally >> 7 mm wide; perianth tube 10–28 mm; ovary tip with nipple-like projection; flowers 2–3; leaf < 22 mm wide, not grass-like
 I. douglasiana
            13' Stem unbranched; lowest bract widely lanceolate to ovate, 3.3–6 cm, 5–7 mm wide; perianth tube 15–30 mm; ovary tip rounded to ± acute; flowers 1–2; leaves 2–4 mm wide, grass-like
 I. innominata
          12' Perianth tube 30–120 mm
 
            14. Style crests << style branches; perianth parts spreading or not, cream-yellow to blue-purple, with or without dark veins
 
              15. Outermost bract 6–11 mm wide, widely lanceolate; perianth throat distinct; leaf 4–8 mm wide, base often intensely reddish; perianth cream-yellow, veins sometimes darker
 I. fernaldii
              15' Outermost bract 3–9 mm wide, linear-lanceolate; perianth throat indistinct (tube generally with a short, bowl-shaped enlargement near top); leaf < 5 mm wide, base generally colorless; perianth golden yellow to cream, pale lavender, or deep blue-purple, veins generally darker
 I. macrosiphon
            14' Style crests often = style branches; perianth parts spreading, whitish to cream, generally with dark veins
 
              16. Perianth throat indistinct (tube generally with a short, bowl-shaped enlargement near top)
 I. chrysophylla
              16' Perianth throat distinct
 I. tenuissima
                17. Stem-leaves 3–4, free from stem only at tips, generally flushed with pink; stigmas widely triangular to rounded
 subsp. purdyiformis
                17' Stem-leaves 1–3, free from stem except near bases, green; stigmas triangular
 subsp. tenuissima

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