Iris munzii, Tulare Co., California. (Adele Lawyer, 1992)
Range: Endemic to the southern Sierra Nevada foothills in Tulare County, California. 1,800 to 4,000 feet elevation.
Original material: near Springville, Tulare County, California 1937
Key identifying features:
1. Large plants with broad (¾ inch), long (20 inches) blue-green leaves
2. Tall (2 to 3 feet), unbranched stalks bear 3-5 large lavender flowers
3. Floral tube short and stout
4. Spathes separate, open, ovary exposed
Flower color: Pale lavender to reddish-purple.
Habitat: Upper foothill Blue oak woodlands with a thick understory of annual grass, subject to winter rains and dry heat of the adjacent San Joaquin Valley summer. Bottoms and sides of small creekbeds, mostly shaded by blue oak, live oak, buckeye, tall mariposa manzanita, poison oak or similar trees and shrubs.
Comment: These tall, elegant plants probably had a much wider distribution during cooler, moister times of the Pleistocene, but now seem to be just holding on in the few areas still suitable for their growth. They are listed as "rare, threatened or endangered" by the California Native Plant Society.
Munz's iris typically grow as individual plants, and very slowly. But they are the largest of the PCIs - tall, straight, strong and stately, features much appreciated when horticulturalists look for desirable characters for hybrid crosses.