Larger Blue Flag, Northern Blue Flag
Iris versicolor
Found in calcareous fens and marshes, mafic fens, tidal marshes and swamps, interdune ponds, shores. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to West Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 47%
- Light
- Up to 6 hours of direct sun
- Soil moisture
- Moist to wet
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
County records are not available.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open, herb-covered wetlands with fresh, non-tidal water.
Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
Who uses this plant?
12CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including WV
Genus host records with ranges including WV · Iris
- Amphipoea americanaAmerican Ear Moth, American Borer
- Ctenucha virginicaVirginia Ctenucha
- Endothenia hebesanaVerbena Bud Moth
- Macronoctua onustaIris Border Moth, Iris Root Borer
- Moodna ostrinellaDarker Moodna
- Orgyia leucostigmaWhite-Marked Tussock Moth
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Tetracis cachexiataWhite Slant-Line
- Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformisEvergreen Bagworm Moth
Show all 12
- Xylena curvimaculaDot-and-Dash Swordgrass Moth
- Xylena nuperaRed Swordgrass Moth, American Swordgrass Moth, False Armyworm
15BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Iris
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Iris
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Family not recorded
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| West Virginia rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| WV status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Northern Tier edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- West Virginia occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications