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Yellow Flag

Yellow Flag

Iris pseudacorus

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How common: Very common

Yellow Flag is a tall iris of wetlands with striking bright yellow flowers. You most often see it along the edges of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams, sometimes standing in shallow water. It is also grown beside garden pools and may spread from plantings.

Did you know?

  • Provincial flower of Kymenlaakso.
  • Protected in the former Oulu and Lapland provinces.

About the species

Identification

Robust, tall wetland plant (60–120 cm) with a thick creeping root underground. Leaves grow in fans from the base, flat and sword-like, 50–90 cm long and 2–4 cm wide; stems are solid. Flowers are large, bright yellow, each with three broad, spreading outer parts and three smaller, upright ones in the center. Seed pods are 4–5 cm; the flat, dark brown seeds can float. When not flowering, its leaves can be confused with sweet flag, which lacks such showy yellow blooms. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Herbaceous plants

Habitat

shore

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Rich, wet places: muddy or silty shores of lakes, ponds, rivers and streams, often in shallow water, and wet alder woods. Widely planted by water and may escape into the wild. Common in southern and central Finland; local farther north up to southern Lapland.

Sources

Photo: JackyM59, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iris Jaunes (Iris pseudacorus).jpg

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Sisävedet: rantaniityt, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40022

Text: Pinkka: Kasvitieteen retkeily Ahvenanmaalle - Kastelholman linna, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40022

Text: Pinkka: Pieni maatalouslajintuntemus - Puuvartiset, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40022

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keltakurjenmiekka

See also