The Dixie or prairie iris (Iris hexagona Walter) is native to swamps and marshy lands of the southeastern U.S. The iris lends its epithet to the five species of the Hexagona [hex ag' o na] Series: I. hexagona, I. brevicaulis, I. giganticaerula, I. fulva, and I. nelsonii. These species and their hybrids have a six ridged seed capsule and are better known as "Louisiana iris".

The flower is a unique structure; it has no petals. The colored whorls are composed of tepals, modified sepals. The outer three tepals or "falls" are large and curve downward. The inner three are smaller and stand upright; they are the "standards". Lying down over the falls are the three petal-like branches of the style. A receptive stigma sits atop the flared tip of each style. Hidden between the falls and the branches of the styles are the pollen bearing stamens. Below each stamen is a nectary.

The Iris flower is designed to prevent self-pollination. Bumblebees are the usual pollinators. Each fall serves as a landing pad. It is marked with lines of contrasting color--white in the instance of the prairie iris--that serve to guide the pollinator to the nectar.

The bumblebee must push between the branch of the style and the fall to reach the nectar. If the bumblebee is carrying pollen, it will brush off onto the stigma. While she is drinking nectar, her head and back get dusted with new pollen. When she leaves, she will carry this pollen on to the next flower. ("Iridaceae", Guide to Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer, University of North Carolina Press, 1994)

Iris hexagona was named by Thomas Walter, a British-trained botanist and plantation owner living in Charleston, South Carolina. Charleston was the site of the worst defeat of the Revolutionary War when the city was captured by the British in 1780. Fifty-four hundred soldiers died that day. The city was abandoned by the British in 1782 and independence of the U.S. was recognized in 1783.

Thomas Walter, now an ex-Brit, was the first U.S. citizen to compile a book of American plants. The prairie iris's botanical name became official when his book, Flora Caroliniana, was published in 1788. The book was edited and published in London.

Louisiana Iris are a horticultural obsession, and rightly so. To learn more about these beautiful plants or to join the Society for Louisiana Iris, click on the link: http://sliris.bizland.com/welcome.html