Draft post for September or October - Yellow Flag Iris
Usually Yellow Flag Iris is easily identified by its bright and beautiful yellow flowers. However, when these flowers are not yet present there are other ID features you can use to help determine if you have encountered an invasive Yellow Flag Iris.
Seed pods
This Invasive plant has large green seed pods that contain up to 120 seeds per pod. When the pods mature, they turn brown and release glossy, D shaped seeds that float on water and spread to new locations.
Leaves
The leaves of Yellow Flag Iris are fan shaped, and have a prominent mid vein. The roots are pink/purple, and the plant also spreads through rhizomes.
CSISS staff were recently pulling out a patch of this plant along the Turner Creek trail in Salmon Arm. This plant grows in riparian areas such as ditches, canals, and wetlands. It forms dense mats which increase sedimentation and allow more invasive plants to grow. These dense mats block the flow of water into wetlands, irrigation ditches, and flood control canals. In addition, Yellow Flag Iris out competes native cattails which are important to our wetland environments!
