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June, 2006 Photo series by Richard Richards The Society's 2002 Minitrek to find Iris hartwegii australis in its natural habitat in Southern California took place shortly following serious local forest fires and several seasons significant drought. Visitors had to search hard to find just a few blooming iris. In June, 2006, I again visited stands of this southern race of the Sierra, or Hartweg's Iris at the same sites around Barton Flat, in the San Bernadino Mountains. Adequate winter snows and rain had resurrected them. Here are some photos of what I saw. This is how they typically grow in a bed of yellow pine needles, like the other races of Sierra Iris found at intermediate elevations along California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The first three photos deal with the same "clump", such as clumps are in most cases. As you can guess, I liked the color very much. The fourth photo shows an attractive plant flowering in the reddish violet -to- purple range. The fifth scene provides a nice contrast between two different clones growing closely together. And the sixth and last photo shows that occasionally I. hartwegii australis can develop into something of a loose clump. This is as clumpy as I have ever seen it.
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