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Bowltube iris

Iris macrosiphon

Also called Ground Iris

Bowltube iris
Photo: Eric in SF, CC BY-SA 3.0

Iris macrosiphon, the bowltube iris, is a small native California iris that grows from a rhizome or bulb-like rootstock. It thrives in full sun with good drainage and a dry summer dormancy.

Family
Iridaceae (Iris family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water during the wet season and keep dry through summer dormancy.
Soil
Free-draining, gritty or loamy soil; avoid heavy wet clay.
Temperature
Hardy in mild climates; tolerates cool winters and hot dry summers, protect from prolonged frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
California
Climate
subtropical

About

Iris macrosiphon, the bowltube iris, is a flowering plant in the iris family, endemic to California in the Cascade Range Foothills, north and central Sierra Nevada Foothills, Inner North Coast Ranges, and San Francisco Bay Area, where it occurs in sunny grasslands, meadows, and open woodlands.

The leaves are very slender, 2.5–5 mm wide, and blue-green in color. The flower is variable, golden yellow to cream or pale lavender to deep blue-purple, generally with darker veins. The flower stems are usually short (less than 25 cm) when in the sun and bear 2 flowers. It blooms in spring.

Uses

Used as a source of fiber by Native Americans. The fiber was used for fish nets, deer snares and other items.

Other Iris plants

Iris acutiloba subsp. lineolata · Iris acutiloba · Iris adriatica · Iris afghanica · Iris alberti · Iris albomarginata · Iris alexeenkoi · Single Bract Iris · Iris antilibanotica · Stool iris · Iris arenaria · Iris assadiana

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Iris macrosiphon by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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