Duck Creek Conservation Area is located nine miles north of Puxico on Highway 51 in Stoddard, Bollinger and Wayne counties.The Missouri Department of Conservation purchased the land for the area in 19
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Scientific Name
Iris fulva
Family
Iridaceae (irises)
Description
An iris, growing from a rhizome, with bladelike leaves and coppery or reddish flowers. Blooms April through June. Flowers have 3 sepals and 3 petals, and all 6 are orange, copper-colored, or reddish-brown. The 3 petal-like sepals spread widely or arch downward and have 1–3 prominent veins. Sepals often have a lighter, yellow area near the base but lack a “beard” of hairs there. The 3 petals are somewhat narrower than the sepals and are erect or spreading and declining with the sepals. Leaves are bladelike, arching or nodding, and emerge from the rhizome and occur along the flower stems.
Size
Height: 2–3 feet; spread: 1–2 feet.
Where To Find
Scattered in the Mississippi Lowlands of southwestern Missouri; also used statewide in garden plantings.
Habitat and Conservation
Swamps and bottomland forests, and along the edges of sloughs, ditches, canals, and ponds, often in shallow water. This flower has been losing its wild habitat in our state, as the swamps of southeastern Missouri have been drained and herbicides applied to ditches, so it is becoming less common in the wild. It is a species that should be used more often in home gardens.
Status
Declining in the wild due to draining of swamps, dredging operations, and herbicides applied to ditches.
Human Connections
Copper iris is a pretty native iris that can flourish in the home garden, especially near a pond or stream, where the soil is rich and moist. It prefers full or part sun and attracts butterflies and hummingbirds.
Ecosystem Connections
Plants that grow in bogs and other low, wet areas do a tremendous service in filtering water of impurities and silt before it runs into creeks and rivers or enters the groundwater system. This species also provides food for hummingbirds and insects, including moths.
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MDC Staff
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Credit
Photo by MDC Staff, courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation.
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Submitted by Barbara Kryvko
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About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!