Iris

Tennessee State Flower 2

purpleirisflower.jpg

Purple Iris flower

Purple Iris flower; photo by Fred on Flickr (use permitted with attribution).

Official State Cultivated Flower of Tennessee

In 1933 Tennessee recognized iris (genus Iridaceae) as the state flower without re-designating the existing state flower adopted in 1919 (passion flower), so legislation was passed in 1973 distinguishing the iris as the "state cultivated flower" and the passion flower as the "state wildflower" (a second wildflower was adopted in 2012; the Tennessee coneflower). All State Flowers

The iris flower comes in a variety of colors and Tennessee legislation does not specify any one in particular, but purple iris is commonly accepted as the cultivated flower symbol of Tennessee. "When it's Iris Time in Tennessee" (by Willa Waid Newman) is one of Tennessee's state songs.

Varieties of iris are recognized as flower symbols in two other states: Louisiana (Louisiana iris) and Michigan (dwarf lake iris).

Tennessee

Images

Purple iris with dew; photo by Bill Gracey on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / no derivative works).

Purple iris with dew

Iris flowers; photo by DJS Photo on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / no derivative works). 

Iris flowers

Videos

Iridaceae -The most beautiful flowers .