Growth
It is an herbaceous flowering perennial plant, growing to 1-1.5 m (or a rare 2 m) tall, with erect leaves up to 90 cm long and 3 cm broad. The flowers are bright yellow, 7-10 cm across, with the typical iris form. The fruit is a dry capsule 4-7 cm long, containing numerous pale brown seeds.
I. pseudacorus grows best in very wet conditions, and is often common in wetlands, where it tolerates submersion, low pH, and anoxic soils. The plant spreads quickly, by both rhizome and water-dispersed seed. It fills a similar niche to that of Typha and often grows with it, though usually in shallower water. While it is primarily an aquatic plant, the rhizomes can survive prolonged dry conditions.
Large I. pseudacorus stands in western Scotland form a very important feeding and breeding habitat for the endangered Corn Crake.
I. pseudacorus is one of two iris species native to the United Kingdom, the other being Iris foetidissima (Stinking iris).
Read more about this topic: Iris Pseudacorus
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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