Spanish iris
Iris xiphium
Family · Iridaceae · Harmless
,_Jardim_da_Funda%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Calouste_Gulbenkian,_Lisbon,_Portugal_julesvernex2.jpg){kind=link}
The blue-purple that turns up alone in May meadows and clearings, elegant enough to look planted. It is native to the Peninsula and the ancestor of the florist's iris.
Where it grows
Fields and pasture · Scrubland · Uplands · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asSpanish iris
In flower
How to tell it
Very narrow, almost cylindrical grooved leaves. One or two flowers per stem, purple or blue, with a yellow or white blotch on each drooping petal. It grows from a bulb.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
None to encourage. It is a plant to look at and photograph; the bulb is not dug up, and collecting for gardens has already thinned entire populations in the south.