Giant Blue-Flag or Iris (_Iris giganticaerulea_) is a tall iris found in swampy places in East Texas and Louisiana, blooming in late April and May. The color of this iris is quite variable, ranging from dark violet to lavender and white. The recurved spreading sepals are 3-4 inches long, and the petals are shorter and erect. The capsules are 3-4 in. long with 6 rounded ridges.
Narrow Blue-Flag (_Iris virginica_) has been confused with the Carolina iris, according to Dr. Small of the New York Botanical Garden, who has recently described many new irises from Louisiana. The narrow blue-flag is colored similarly to the giant iris, but has shorter 3-angled capsules, very narrow leaves, and zig-zag stems. It is abundant on the Coastal Plain in early spring.
Red-Brown Flag (_Iris fulva_) is also found in the swamps in East Texas.
[Illustration: SLENDER LADIES’-TRESSES ROSE POGONIA]
Air plants or tuberous-rooted; leaves alternate, undivided; sepals 3; petals 3, the middle one, or “lip,” often complex in structure; stamens 2 or 1, united to pistil; ovary below the perianth.
Slender Ladies’-Tresses (_Ibidium gracile_) is also called twisted-stalk or corkscrew-plant because of the twisting of the flower-stalk. The stems, which are 8 in. to 2 ft. high, grow from a cluster of tuberous roots and have two broad leaves at the base. This flower ranges from Texas to Nova Scotia.
Rose Pogonia. Snake-Mouth (_Pogonia ophioglossoides_) grows in swampy places from Texas to Newfoundland. Pogonia is from the Greek, meaning “bearded” and refers to the bearded lip.
Grass-Pink (_Limodorum tuberosum_) is a pink-flowered orchid of East Texas and the Eastern States similar to the rose pogonia, but does not have the short clasping leaf on the stem.
The orchid family is a large group of more than 15,000 species. Some orchids are air-plants, attaching themselves to tree-trunks, but none of these are found among the 25 orchids growing in Texas. Perhaps the handsomest orchid in the state is the red-flowered flame orchid (_Stenorrhynchus cinnabarinus_) found in the mountains of the Big Bend. All the Texas orchids are rare enough to need protection.
Leaves usually alternate; sepals 3-6, sometimes petal-like; petals absent; stamens usually 6-9; ovary 1-celled.