Pronounced (approximate) EYE-ris sy-BEER-ah-kuh
Look for violet flowers held above a stand of narrow, upright leaves. Each drooping flower segment has a pale, veined patch near its base. Look closely and you’ll see that the patch is smooth.
Pale veins fan across the smooth falls of a violet Siberian Iris flower. Select the photograph to open the gallery.
Family Iridaceae
Life cycle Rhizomatous perennial
Blooms Late spring to early summer
Height Usually 2–3 feet in flower
Habitat Moist meadows, pond margins, and plantings in evenly moist soil
Other common names
Siberian Flag
Explore reported observations on the sightings map.
Look in moist, sunny places in late spring or early summer. Siberian Iris is widely planted in gardens and can persist or grow outside cultivation. A stand in bloom is easier to recognize than its grasslike foliage alone.
The comparison photograph shows Hungarian Iris. Its lower flower segments have a raised yellow beard. On Siberian Iris, the bright patch on each fall is flat. Blue-violet color alone is a weak clue because several irises share it.
Start at the white, finely striped patch and trace it inward. That patch is often called a signal. In these photographs it stands out clearly against the violet outer part of each fall.
Narrow, sword-shaped blades rise in fans. Flowering stalks carry the blossoms above the foliage, so a stand can look like a field of violet flowers on separate stems.
Siberian Iris spreads gradually from underground rhizomes. Close-packed fans of leaves can produce many flowering stalks, as the wide photograph shows.
Field photographs by Brian Woolman. Select a photograph to enlarge it.
6 field photographs. Select an image to enlarge it and browse the gallery.
Native from central Europe east to Mongolia. Kew records introductions in the United States, including Illinois, Minnesota, and several northeastern states. Garden cultivars also occur beyond documented wild populations.
Documented U.S. records in the cited sources
CA, CT, IL, ME, MA, MN, NY, PA, VT, WA
The sightings map shows submitted observations, which can include cultivated plants.
The three upright standards are petals. The three larger falls are sepals. Both are colorful, which is why it is easy to count all six as petals at first glance.