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■ (SPEC) Iris hexagona Walter

1788, Botanical author Walter

Iris hexagona Walter (Thomas Walter, 1788, Coastal Southeastern U.S.A.); Section Limniris, Series Hexagonae; "Flower-stalk rigid, erect, 32- 48" (80-120 cm); spicy sandalwood fragrance.

See below:
hexagona1.jpegHexagona Addisonia 314.jpgI hexagona.jpgihexagona01.jpgSIGNA 03O195 hexagona ssp. savannarum forma albispiritis coll. Caliisa Valley west of Lake Okechobee.jpgSIGNA 03O195 hexagona ssp savannarum forma albispiritas enlarged.jpg
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References:

Walter in Fl. Car. 66. 1788;
Van T. 1900;
Contributions to the New York Botanical Garden 352. N.Y.1931;

Botanical Interpretations of Iridaceous Plants of the Gulf States;

"Flower-stalk rigid; Flowers slightly fragrant: hypanthium covering the ovary sharply 6-angled: sepals (falls) 8-11 cm. long, spreading or recurved spreading, the claw suffused green, the blade oval or obovate, violet, often of a deep-violet ground-color, except for the white crest zone at the base and the prominent yellow crest: petals (standards) spathulate, slightly shorter than the sepals, the claw suffuse with green at the base, the blade lined in the middle at the base and with whitish edges, deep-violet above: style-branches green below, becoming gradually flushed lavender and violet deeply lacerate-toothed towards the apex: capsule ovoid or oval-ovoid, 3-6 cm. long, each lobe with 2 lateral sharp ridges, the body hence 6-angled.-early summer.-A form is known in Florida with the sepal-crest yellow green. The firmness of the yellowish green foliage extends to the flowers"-"Botanical Interpretations of Iridaceous Plants of the Gulf States" ;
Addisonia 9: 4, 51, Dec. 1924 ,Of the two species of Iris proposed by Thomas Walter and the four recorded by him from the region covered by his "Flora" Iris hexagona is the largest ; in fact, it is the most robust of our eastern American species. It is a stout and rigid plant with a yellowish-green tint in the foliage, its flowers show the greatest amount of a very rich shade of purple in the perianth, and the crest of the sepal is most prominent.

Iris hexagona is confined to the southern Atlantic and Gulf coast strip, but its exact range is not yet known; from the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia it passes diagonally across northeastern Florida to near the angle of the Gulf Coast, whence it extends westward. If this plant grew further northward before the glacial period, there is no evidence that it ever attempted to regain the ground it may have lost. It seems more likely that, for some unknown reason, its ancestors took an eastward and southward course when they left the Appalachian plant reservoirs after the final submergence and uplift of the continent preceding the glacial period.

In its native haunts it demands a black silt loam, and much water, growing mostly in permanently wet ditches, in swamps, and in shallow slow-flowing streams. It is equally at home in the full sunlight or in the half shade of shrubs and trees.

In the Atlantic side of its range Iris hexagona seems to hug the coast, where it is associated with Iris Carolina, perhaps on account of the lower land where water is more abundant. Near the Gulf coast it extends further inland, for there the land is very low and flat, and the rise inland is much more gradual than along the Atlantic Ocean.

This flag is a comparatively late bloomer. The flowers are peculiar in that they last for several days without wilting. The pods of the other species inhabiting the same region are formed or ripened when the plants of Iris hexagona begin to flower, and they are often decayed and discharging their seeds when its pods are still green. A very rich and deep shade of purple is the rule in the flowers of Iris hexagona, but albino flowers have been observed.

As far as we can learn much of the material cultivated in gardens as Iris hexagona really does not represent that species. It seems that almost any large-flowered Iris from the southern Coastal Plain is distributed as "I. hexagona." The specimens from which the accompanying illustration was made, collected near Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, were sent by Agnes A. Auld in the spring of 1924.

The angle-pod blue-flag has a very stout rootstock. The leaves are stiffly erect, several together, with linear-attenuate, yellowish-green blades up to about three feet long or less, all glaucescent.

The flower-stalk is stout, four feet tall or less, erect, strict or slightly zigzag, somewhat flattened, glaucous, simple or with one or more short, usually very short branches which are subtended by long foliaceous, usually elongate, bracts. The flower or flower-cluster is exceeded by the subtending bract. The pedicel is shorter than the ovary in anthesis. The hypanthium, covering the ovary, is longer than the pedicel, with six prominent ribs or angles, and six intermediate ribs. The perianth-tube is funnelform, nearly or quite a half inch long. The three sepals are remate, three and a quarter to four and a quarter inches long; the blade is oval or nearly so, rich purple, with an elevated linear coarsely hairy crest extending up from the claw, the green of the claw shading into yellow along the crest and the yellow shading into white flecks; the broad claw yellow-green within and distinctly striate-ribbed. The three petals are two and three quarters to three and a quarter inches long, narrowly spatulate, erect, the blade deep purple, often notched at the apex, the claw yellowish green at the base, whitish and lined and flecked with purple above. The stamens are about 4 cm. long, with the filament yellow and the anther linear, slightly longer than the filament. The three style-branches are broadly linear to linear-cuneate, about two inches long, greenish white and purple-tinged within. The style-appendages are scythe-shaped or somewhat falcate, one half to three quarters of an inch long, erose. The stigma is broadly two-lobed, with each lobe finely erose. The capsules are ovoid or oval-ovoid, one and a half to two inches long, blunt or stout-beaked, with a slight ridge or groove on each face, the angles with two lateral, elevated, often sharp ridges, all terminating in stout pedicels usually less than half their length. The seeds, borne in two rows in each carpel or cavity of the capsule or sometimes in one row in some of the cavities, are very corky, irregular from mutual pressure, pale brown, four twelfths to five twelfths of an inch in diameter.

John K. Small.
Royal Palm Nursery. 1910, 1927;
Oakhurst 1938; Per. 1938;
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Synonyms

Dixie Iris; Angle-pod Blue Flag; virginica, Michaux; ----

Chromosome counts;

2n=44-Riley 1942; 2n=44 Snoad 1952. ----

Variations

Iris hexagona cultivars: 'Albispiritis', 'Blue Magi'c 'Cathedral Blue', 'Forget Me Not', 'Hexagona Alba', 'Hexagon Blue', 'Hexagon Purpurea', 'Hohtikee ', 'Kimballiae', 'Miss Priscilla' ? 'Rivularis ', 'Savannarum Alba', 'Savannarum Azurea', 'Savannarum Pallidum', 'Savannarum Royal'. ----

Hybrids

Iris hexagona crosses: 'Amalata', 'Appalachee', 'Balbancha', 'Chucalissa', 'Dixie Country', 'Eufaulee ', 'Faloma', 'Francis Kingdon Ward', 'Fruhlingsstimmen', 'Green Lustre', 'Haloka', 'Ikoni', 'Katherine Knox', 'Laurentia', 'Lone Star', 'Mingko', 'Nacoba', 'Posi', 'Pristine Beauty', 'Sagamore', 'Santee', 'Sinyaya Ptitsa', 'Spring Sorcery', 'Talladega', 'Tidewater', 'Tolana', 'Wahalle', 'Yaneka'. ----

Distribution and Cultivation

Distribution: The distribution of the species gives clues as to its cultural requirements, although plants in cultivation can often tolerate a wider range of variables:
The species is found in the following region:

Bonap's North American Plant Atlas shows the following map reproduced by permission of Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. Taxonomic Data Center. (http://www.bonap.net/tdc). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)]
Cultivation;
Prefers moist soil, but can be grown in good garden soil, well-drained and flourishes in full sun to part shade. Copius water during bloomseason. See Cultivation of Louisiana Irises
See more about preservation of Iris Hexagona at Louisiana Iris Preservation Project
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-- Main.RPries - 2010-02-22
I Attachment Action Size Date Who Comment
Hexagona_Addisonia_314.jpgjpg Hexagona_Addisonia_314.jpg manage 46 K 09 Nov 2013 - 14:37 BobPries Biodiversity Heritage Library
I_hexagona.jpgjpg I_hexagona.jpg manage 64 K 29 Jan 2011 - 15:25 EleanorHutchison photo by Rodney Barton
SIGNA_03O195_hexagona_ssp._savannarum_forma_albispiritis_coll._Caliisa_Valley_west_of_Lake_Okechobee.jpgjpg SIGNA_03O195_hexagona_ssp._savannarum_forma_albispiritis_coll._Caliisa_Valley_west_of_Lake_Okechobee.jpg manage 448 K 20 Jan 2012 - 13:43 UnknownUser Pries photo
SIGNA_03O195_hexagona_ssp_savannarum_forma_albispiritas_enlarged.jpgjpg SIGNA_03O195_hexagona_ssp_savannarum_forma_albispiritas_enlarged.jpg manage 245 K 20 Jan 2012 - 13:42 UnknownUser Pries photo
hexagona1.jpegjpeg hexagona1.jpeg manage 63 K 20 Feb 2020 - 02:46 Main.TLaurin Photo scanned from the Carla Lankow slide collection
ihexagona01.jpgjpg ihexagona01.jpg manage 49 K 25 Jan 2016 - 13:16 Main.TLaurin Photo by Iris City Gardens
Topic revision: r13 - 04 Apr 2022, TLaurin
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