Iris sibirica

Iris sibirica L. - Siberian iris - Iris butter and sugar
Family: Iridaceae

This is a unique species with 10 cm wide blue blue flowers. In Italy its habitat s above all in the damp mountain meadows but  once it was very common also in the lowland as far as the Adriatic coast.
The species was so common thatit could be identified, at the beginning of the XX century, as the guide species of the association of the damp meadows on clay soils. The latter were alternated to fens in the Resurgence area and in the area surrounding the Marano lagoon. These soils, water logged or even flooded for most of the year, but dry in summer, were not considered agronomically suitable for productive crops. That is why they were kept as mowing meadows until the XX century.
As they were instead fertile, with the advent of mechanization, this meadow typology was completely destroyed by reclamations and only a few very small areas still survive. The reference plant association is the Plantago-Molinietum on the Friuli and Veneto lowlands and in particular the driest and most eutrophic facies of transition towards the Selino-Molinietum. The species grows indifferently on peaty or mineral soils and takes advantage from the mowing, late in summer, which were once common in the area.