The ponds at Audubon are decorated with Blue Flag (Iris versicolor). According to Earl Rook, it goes by many other common names, including American Blue Flag, Dagger Flower, Dragon Flower, Flag Lily, Harlequin Blueflag, Liver Lily, Poison Flag, Snake Lily, Water Flag , and Water Iris (whew!) and it is the only native iris in “the North Country.”
Whatever the name, I love it and am always so delighted to see it blooming.
The listing in Peterson’s Guide to Edible Wild Plants warns:
Do not confuse the rootstocks of the irises with those of Sweetflag or Cattail; all irises are poisonous.
Curiously, Peterson’s Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs lists several uses for the plant. It also, however, contains a strong warning and a long list of unpleasant potential reactions.
It spreads both by seeds and by rhizomes, so can be found singly or in fairly large numbers. It likes wet feet, so look for it along the edges of ponds and lakes, or in soggy spots that stay wet through early summer.
It’s really quite stunning. You should find time to go to Audubon for a walk! But hurry. My field guide says it only blooms May through July.
Learn more:
I was messing around with my 10X macro lens that screws onto the front of my kit lens. I zoomed way back to get this shot:
The black around the edges, I assume, is actually the inside of the lens… I like the way the iris itself looks – the crisp focus and the depth of field… but I wish I had taken a few minutes to arrange the background to be less distracting… I’ll have to experiment more with that. (Usually I zoom way in when using this lens.)
Here’s a photo from last year:
A Passion for Nature 
I love these wild flowers and planted some in my garden last year. They have multiplied well and are about to bloom. Great pictures (as usual!)
Your iris photos are stunning. I live and Florida now and miss the iris of my Michigan youth. Your site is satisfyingly informational. I enjoy reading your posts.
Beautiful flowers! Your macro shot is excellent!
I wish I could go for that walk at Audubon!
Mmmm, wild irises… We have Douglas Irises that bloom in an amazing profusion along the coast here, and Western Blue Flag Irises in the Sierra Nevada range.
I find it almost impossible to not photograph them whenever I see them, even though I have many hundreds of iris photos already 🙂
I like the vignetting caused by your macro adapter – I almost always darken the corners/edges of my macro shots anyways 🙂
I love these flowers! We have some in several of our flower beds at school. They add a beautiful contrasting shade to the hot pink peonies in one of our beds. I, too, enjoy how informative your site is…I’m always learning here.
Very pretty photos. When my husband and I take walks out “in nature” we sometimes come across these Irises. I had always thought perhaps there was a homestead there in the olden days and someone planted them. I’m amazed they are native plants! Blogs are such teaching tools!
Beautiful photos of a lovely flower. All my irises are those that I plant myself but none are as pretty as the Blue Flag.