Iris hartwegii subsp. hartwegii

Family: Iridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Hartweg's iris is a California native perennial found in the southern Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on slopes in open pine forest at elevations of 400 to 2,300 meters. Flowering from May to June, this plant produces pale to gold-yellow flowers with darker veining, featuring a barrel-shaped perianth tube. Growing with rhizomes 7 to 10 millimeters in diameter and stems 7 to 30 centimeters tall, it forms distinctive clumps in forest openings. Its basal leaves are approximately 5 to 10 millimeters wide, with a characteristically green base. The plant's flowers emerge from outer bracts 6 to 11 centimeters long and 9 to 14 millimeters wide, typically in pairs.

Habitat: Common. Slopes in open pine forest

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: 400-2300 m

Bioregions: s CaR, SN.

California counties: El Dorado, Butte, Tuolumne, Nevada, Fresno, Placer, Yuba, Amador, Calaveras, Plumas, Modoc, Lassen, Madera, Kern, Sierra, Tulare

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.