Iris hartwegii, above Sonora, California [Almanac 1998];
Unusual large clump (Right) [Almanac 1989]
Range: Fairly common above the foothills throughout most of the length of the western Sierra Nevada Mountains between Kern and Plumas counties, California. 2,000 to 7,000 feet elevation. A disjunct population lives in the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California.
Original material: Bear Creek, Nevada County, California 1847
Key identifying features:
1. Floral tube stout and short (less than 1 inch)
2. Spathes spreading, attached at separate locations on stem; ovary exposed
3. Plants individual - "clumps" (photo above) are actually many single plants grown up where groups of seeds fell.
Flower color: Light cream to bright yellow, less commonly lavender.
Habitat: Sunny, open or partially shaded sites in mixed or yellow pine woodlands. In forested regions it tends to bloom most frequently along streams, roadways and cut-over areas.
Comment: Its altitudinal and geographic range separate I. hartwegii from all the other PCNIs except the long-tubed I. macrosiphon in the western Sierras' upper foothills. (Unlike I. macrosiphon, the Sierra iris' open spathes leave the ovary and the short, stocky flower tube clearly visible.) You can find I. missouriensis in moist, sunny meadows at even higher elevations on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevadas, and west of the Cascades in areas outside the northern range of the PCNIs.
Three distinctive regional populations have been given their own names: I. hartwegii australis - an isolated, lavender-flowered southern race growing between 5,000 and 7,000 feet elevation in the San Bernardino Mountains; I. hartwegii pinetorum - a Plumas County population in which two smaller, creamy yellow flowers tend to open at the same time; and I. hartwegii columbiana - with cream colored flowers and shiny, broader leaves (around ½ inch) found near Columbia in Tuolumne County. The "Tuolumne iris" is listed as rare or endangered by the California Native Plant Society.
The southern race, I. hartwegii australis (photo at left) was described the Fall 1999 issue of the ALMANAC. Richard Richards suggested hybridizers could find it a good source of genes for cold-hardiness, for developing plants capable of living in cold winter regions outside the range where most Pacificas can survive.