Walking Iris (Neomarica gracilis)

Walking Iris (Neomarica gracilis) is an unusual member of the Iris family. Walking Iris is native to central America. It is called Walking Iris because, once the flower has faded, the heavy seed pod bends to the ground and starts a new plant. For that reason it is said to be walking across a garden.

The flowers are beautiful and interesting too. Three bright white petals pop open to reveal their inner segments of electric blue and yellow. The 2 inch flower is on a pendulous soft stem that will reach 3 ft in length, drooping down and away from rigid, shiny, 2×3′ sword-shaped leaves. It grows to about 60 cm in ideal conditions and has pure white flowers with strong, strikingly-beautiful navy blue and chocolate markings. The foliage is a healthy, shiny, smooth yellowish-green - with no grooves in the leaves. Flowers usually appear in mid-to-late spring and are reputed to bloom in sync with the lunar phases.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family: Iridaceae
Genus: Neomarica
Species: Neomarica gracilis

Pronunciation/Meaning:

• Iridaceae (eye-rid-AY-see-ay) - The Iris family (from the Greek word for iridescent)
• Neomarica (nee-oh-mar-EE-kuh) - Originally called Marica for the water nymph Marica; renamed Neomarica, meaning new Marica.
• gracilis (GRASS-il-is) - Graceful; slender.

Common Names:

• Walking Iris, Apostle Plant

Links:

• Flowers of India - Walking Iris

Image Courtesy of Esdras Calderan.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• German Iris (Iris germanica)
• Bowl Tube Iris (Iris macrosiphon)
• The Wild Iris