The Douglas Iris, Iris douglasiana, is a common and attractive wildflower of the coastal regions of Northern and Central California and southern Oregon. The names Iris beecheyana and I. watsoniana have also been used for this plant, but Iris douglasiana has precedence.
The Douglas Iris grows mainly at lower elevations, below 100 metres, though it is occasionally found at heights of up to 1000 metres. It is most common in grasslands near the coasts; it is regarded as a noxious weed in pastures, because it forms clumps that inhibit other vegetation, and its leaves are bitter and unpalatable to cattle.
This is a typical beardless Iris of subgenus Limniris, series Californicae, growing from a rhizome that is typically under a centimetre in diameter. Its leaves are about 2 cm wide. It flowers from April to June. Flowers are usually a purplish-blue, though occasionally white or yellow flowers are found. Two or three flowers are found on each stem, which is of variable height, ranging from 15-80 cm tall.
Several varieties have been recognised, for example Iris douglasiana var. altissima (Jeps.) and Iris douglasiana var. oregonensis (R. C. Foster), but the species is highly variable and the varieties may not be well enough defined to be of much practical use. The Douglas Iris hybridises freely with several other species; its natural hybrid with I. innominata has been designated as Iris ×thompsonii (R. C. Foster), and the garden hybrid with the same species as Iris ×aureonympha (E. H. English).
Irisdouglasiana and Iris longipetala were named and described by William Herbert (1778-1841) in the "California Supplement" to Sir William Hooker and Walker Arnott's "The Botany of Captain Beechey's Voyage," which was published in 1841.
An illustration of Irisdouglasiana from William Dykes' "The Genus Iris" (1913).
Irisdouglasiana is a fairly common species in undeveloped areas along the Pacific Coast from the Coos Bay region of southwestern Oregon to the vicinity of Point Arguello in Santa Barbara County.
Iris is a genus of flowering plants with showy flowers ranging in colour from gold, copper-red or yellow to white, blue, blue-violet, lavender, tan, maroon and purple.
Iris unguicularis (or stylosa) is a remarkable winter flowering species from Algeria, with sky-blue flowers blotched with yellow, produced (in the Northern Hemisphere) at irregular intervals from November to March, the bleakest period of the year.
Iris germanica of central Europe, "the most common purple Fleur de Luce" of Ray, is the large common blue iris of gardens, the bearded iris or fleur de luce and probably the Illyrian iris of the ancients.
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