Iris missouriensis

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds - coffee

The roasted seed can be used as a coffee substitute.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant.

Australia, North America, Slovenia, USA,

How to Identify

Perennial iris growing 0.8 m tall with 1 m spread. Blooms May to June with insect-pollinated hermaphroditic flowers. Self-fertile. Prefers light sandy and medium loamy soils with mildly acid to mildly alkaline pH. Tolerates semi-shade to full sun. Requires moist to wet soil conditions.

How to Grow

Requires a moist soil, growing well in a moist border, but intolerant of stagnant water. Easily grown in a sunny position so long as the soil is wet in the spring. A polymorphic species. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer or rabbits.

Propagation: Seed is best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. Stored seed should be sown as early in the year as possible in a cold frame. Prick seedlings out into individual pots when large enough to handle and grow on in the greenhouse or cold frame for their first year, then plant out in late spring or early summer. Division is best done after flowering, though one account recommends spring or early autumn. Larger clumps can be replanted directly into permanent positions; smaller clumps are better potted up and grown on in a cold frame until rooting well, then planted out in spring.

Medicinal Uses

Rocky Mountain iris was used medicinally by several native North American Indian tribes, particularly as an external treatment for skin problems, and was for a time an officinal American medicinal plant, though it is little if at all used in modern herbalism. The root is emetic and odontalgic. An infusion has been used to treat kidney and bladder complaints and stomach aches. Pulped root is placed in the tooth cavity or on the gum to relieve toothache. A decoction of the root has been used as ear drops for earaches. A poultice of mashed roots has been applied to rheumatic joints and used as a salve on venereal sores. Caution is advised in the use of this plant, see the notes on toxicity. A paste of the ripe seeds has been used as a dressing on burns.

Other Uses

The plant yields a green dye, though the specific part used is not recorded.

Iris missouriensis (syn. I. montana) is a hardy flowering rhizomatous species of the genus Iris, in the family Iridaceae. Its common names include western blue flag, Rocky Mountain iris, and Missouri flag. It is native to western North America. Its distribution is varied; it grows at high elevations in mountains and alpine meadows and all the way down to sea level in coastal hills.

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