Iris versicolor (Northern Blue Flag)

Native to central and eastern Canada and the northern and eastern United States, northern blue flag is a rhizomatous perennial of wetlands. Its narrow, blue-green sword-shaped leaves overlap in fans and form upright clumps. Flower stalks carry blue to lavender blossoms, each with three upright standards and three spreading falls marked by contrasting veins and pale or yellow areas. Capsules follow flowering. The species grows naturally around ponds, wet meadows, and marshes and is cultivated in water gardens and other consistently moist sites. Photographed in Florida.