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State Symbols

The official state symbols represent the cultural heritage and natural treasures of each state or the entire United States

Michigan Symbols

Michigan Symbols

Bird, Fish, Flag, Flower, Fossil, Game Mammal, Gem, Historical Society, Motto, Nicknames, Reptile, Seal, Soil, Song, Stone, Tree, Unofficial Song, Wild Flower

Michigan State Wild Flower

Dwarf Lake Iris

(Iris lacustris)

Adopted in 1998.

In 1998, the Dwarf Lake Iris, Iris lacustris, was designated as the state wildflower. Native to the state, the endangered flower grows along the northern shorelines of Lakes Michigan and Huron.

Description

Dwarf lake iris is a miniature iris with showy, deep blue flowers. The flowers are about 1 to 1 2 inches in width and 1 2 to 2 2 inches in height and are born singly on stems less than 2 inches tall. Leaves are up to 6 inches long and 2" wide and are flattened, sword-like, and arranged in fan-shaped clusters. Although flowers are usually blue, lilac or white flowers are sometimes found.

Range

Dwarf lake iris only grows around the Great Lakes and occurs near the northern shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ontario, Canada.

Habitat

This miniature iris grows nowhere else in the world but in the Great Lakes Region. Most of the world's Dwarf Lake Iris population lies within Michigan's boundaries. Occurring close to Great Lakes shorelines in cool, moist lakeshore air, dwarf lake iris is found on sand or in thin soil over limestone-rich gravel or bedrock. Habitat is along old beach ridges or behind open dunes. Changing water levels can open new habitat for the plants.

Reproduction

Dwarf lake iris is a low-growing perennial with shallow, slender, creeping rhizomes which produce new fans of leaves at their nodes. It flowers mostly in semi-open habitats with partial sun. Seeds are rounded capsules about 2 inch long. Flowers appear from mid-May to early June.

State Symbols

State symbols represent things that are special to a particular state.

symbol \ˈsim-bəl\
noun

Etymology:
in sense 1, from Late Latin symbolum, from Late Greek symbolon, from Greek, token, sign; in other senses from Latin symbolum token, sign, symbol, from Greek symbolon, literally, token of identity verified by comparing its other half, from symballein to throw together, compare, from syn- + ballein to throw — more at devil
Date: 15th century

1: Something that represents something else by association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible.