Re: Hi from New Member who needs help! Distinguishing Pseudacorus from Versicolor?

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----- Original Message -----

From: h*@aol.com

To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 11:41 AM

Subject: [iris-species] Hi from New Member who needs help! Distinguishing Pseudacorus from Versicolor?

Hi All,

I just joined because our neighborhood has an iris "problem" I'm
hoping you all can help we with.

Last year a local stream underwent a large restoration project to
reduce the effects of erosion. The entire stream bed and banks were
regraded and various natural barrier (boulders, etc.,) were put in to
direct the stream and manage storm water. (Our City's storm water
system drains directly to the stream.)

As part of this they created a "wetlands" area to spread out storm
overflow and planted it with a number of native species. The
original plan included both Iris versicolor and pseudacorus. When I
alerted them to the fact that pseudacorus is not native and is in
fact an invasive, they removed it from the plans. This happened only
at the last minute and this spring it is evident that pseudacorus DID
get planted along with the versicolor - as their lovely yellow
flowers are in bloom right now. (They were planting 700 each of the
plants and I'm guessing some trays got mixed up.)

A local watershed group is offering help in removing the
pseudacorus. At this point they are only one year old and we want to
get them out before they become any more firmly established.

My question:

Is there a definitive way to distinguish pseudacorus from
versicolor? If not, we will have to remove ALL the iris and wait a
few years while we check for stray pseudacorus before we plant more
versicolor. This wetland overflows to a stream that up until this
date has had no pseudacorus in it. We have enough other invasive
plants - we don't need a new one!

Thank you for any help you can give me.

-Helen