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Botanical  Name: Iris Versicolor (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Iridaceae
Subfamily: Iridoideae
Synonyms:  Blue Flag. Poison Flag. Flag Lily. Liver Lily. Snake Lily. Dragon Flower. Dagger Flower. Water Flag.
Common Names: American Blue Flag, Dagger Flower, Dragon Flower, Flag Lily, Harlequin Blueflag, Liver Lily, Poison Flag, Snake Lily, Water Flag , Water Iris, fleur-de-lis, flower-de-luce, clajeux (Qué), Lis met Bontkleurige Bloem (NL), kosatec strakatý (Slovak)
Kingdom: Plantae, the Plants
Division: Magnoliophyta, the Angiosperms (flowering plants)
Class: Liliopsida, the Monocotyledons
Subclass: Liliidae
Order: Liliales /Asparagales
Genus: Iris, the Irises
Part Used: Root.
Habitat:Irish Versicolor is  found abundantly in swamps and low grounds throughout eastern and central North America, common in Canada, as well as in the United States, liking a loamy or peaty soil. It is not a native of Europe.

Description: Iris Versicolor (Linn.) is a perennial herb. It grows 2 to 3 feet high, with narrow, sword-shaped leaves, and from May to July produces large, handsome flowers, blue, except for the yellow and whitish markings at the base of the sepals.
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Blue Flag Rhizome has annual joints, 2 or more inches long, about 3/4 inch in diameter, cylindrical in the lower half, becoming compressed towards the crown, where the cup-shaped stem-scar is seen, when dry, and numerous rings, formed of leaf scars are apparent above and scars of rootlets below. It is dark brown externally and longitudinally wrinkled. The fracture is short, purplish, the vascular bundles scattered through the central column. The rootlets are long, slender and simple. The rhizome has a very slight but peculiar odour, and a pungent, acrid and nauseous taste.

Leaves are narrow, sword-shaped bears two ranks of sword-shaped, long, narrow leaves sword-like leaves emerge from thick horizontal root stock (corm) which are covered with fibrous roots. This emergent will grow to heights of four feet in spreading clumps. The individual leaves are somewhat shorter than the entire plant. Leaves are folded on the midribs so that they form an overlapping flat fan.

Stems are unwinged, erect, generally have basal leaves that are more than 1 cm. wide. stout stem grows from a thick, cylindrical, creeping rootstock nearly straight flowering stems.
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Rhizome tends to form large clumps from thick, creeping rhizomes.annual joints, 2″ or more long, about ¾” in diameter, cylindrical in the lower half, becoming compressed towards the crown, where the cup-shaped stem-scar is seen, when dry, and numerous rings, formed of leaf scars are apparent above and scars of rootlets below. It is dark brown externally and longitudinally wrinkled. The fracture is short, purplish, the vascular bundles scattered through the central column.

Root rootlets are long, slender and simple.

Flowers are large, showy, light to deep blue with yellow and whitish markings at the base of the sepals. Borne 2-3 to a stem. The well developed flower petals and sepals spread out nearly flat and have two forms.

*Sepals 3, petal-like, spreading or recurved with a greenish-yellow blotch at their base.

*Petals 3, smaller than the sepals

*Stamens

*Pistils

*Ovary inferior (below flower), bluntly angled.

Fruit a three celled, bluntly angled capsule, 1½” long and ¾” in diameter. Two rows of densely packed seeds form within each cell.

Seeds are large, brown, with a flattened round form. Can be observed floating on the water’s surface in the fall. Average of 18,000 seeds per pound.

Owing to the similarity of name, and the appearance before blooming, this flag is sometimes mistaken by American children for Sweet Flag or Calamus, which grows in the same localities, often with disastrous results.

Of the 100 species of true Iris, twenty-two inhabit the United States, but only one, Iris Missouriensis, much resembles this species (the rhizome of which yields an official American drug), or has a rhizome likely to be mistaken for it.

When cultivated, the American Blue Flag succeeds best in heavy, rich, moist soil. If planted in August or September, it can be harvested at the end of October the following year. The yield per acre is 3 to 4 tons of the rhizome.

Reproduces by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
Flowers bloom between  May to July.

Constituents: The rhizome contains starch, gum, tannin, volatile oil, 25 per cent of acrid, resinous matter, isophthalic acid, traces of salicylic acid and possibly an alkaloid, though a number of substances contained are still unidentified. It owes its medicinal virtues to an oleoresin.

The species has been implicated in several poisoning cases of humans and animals who consumed the rhizomes, which have been found to contain a glycoside, iridin. The sap can cause dermatitis in susceptible individuals.

Distilled with water, the fresh rhizome yields an opalescent distillate, from which is separated a white, camphoraceous substance with a faint odour. The oil possesses the taste and smell, but only partly the medicinal activity of the drug.

Medicinal Action and Uses: The root is an official drug of the United States Pharmacopoeia and is the source of the Iridin or Irisin of commerce, a powdered extractive, bitter, nauseous and acrid, with diuretic and aperient properties.

Iridin acts powerfully on the liver, but, from its milder action on the bowels, is preferable to podophyllin.

The fresh Iris is quite acrid and if employed internally produces nausea, vomiting, purging and colicky pains. The dried root is less acrid and is employed as an emetic, diuretic and cathartic. The oleoresin in the root is purgative to the liver, and useful in bilious sickness in small doses.

It is chiefly used for its alterative properties, being a useful purgative in disorders of the liver and duodenum, and is an ingredient of many compounds for purifying the blood. It acts as a stimulant to the liver and intestinal glands and is used in constipation and biliousness, and is believed by some to be a hepatic stimulant second only to podophyllin, but if given in full doses it may occasion considerable nausea and severe prostration.

Its chief use is for syphilis and some forms of low-grade scrofula and skin affection. It is also valuable in dropsy.

It is said to have been used by the southern North American Indians as a cathartic and emetic.

The flowers afford a fine blue infusion, which serves as a test for acids and alkalies.

Native Americans used the root for dropsy and as a cathartic and emetic. Leaves have been used externally for burns and sores.

Preparations and Dosages: Powdered root, as a cathartic, 20 grains. Irisin, 1 to 3 grains. Solid extract, 10 to 15 grains. Fluid extract, 1/2 to 1 drachm. Tincture, 1 to 3 drachms.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider .

Resources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/i/iriver11.html

http://www.rook.org/earl/bwca/nature/aquatics/irisver.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_versicolor

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