| Author | Aiton | |
| Distribution | Throughout the Mountains and Piedmont; sparingly found in the southern Coastal Plain, primarily along the Cape Fear River. Absent from the Sandhills proper.
This is an east-central species with a rather narrow north to south range. It occurs north to southern PA and MO, and south to central portions of GA, AL, and MS. | |
| Abundance | Common throughout the Mountains and Piedmont; very rare to rare in the southwestern portions of the Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | This is a species of mesic to more often rich forests, particularly on slopes. It is a characteristic species of Mesic Mixed Hardwood Forests, but it is found along stream banks, moist bluffs, and in cove forests. | |
| Phenology | Blooms in April and May, and fruits from June into July. | |
| Identification | This is the most often seen native iris in the state by most people, and biologists need no introduction to it. It has a handful of lanceolate basal leaves, gently curved or falcate, growing to about 5-6 inches long, pale green to green in color and oriented mostly with a leaf edge facing the stem. The flowering stem is very short for an iris, being only about 5 inches tall, but it is topped by one or two very large flowers, which are roughly 3 inches wide. The flower structure of an iris defies easy description here (without a photo!), but they are medium to light violet or lavender in color, with white on the sepals, which also contain the characteristic yellow hair-like crest. The similar I. verna does have a yellow band on each of the three sepals, but this band is much larger and is smooth and not hairy like a small brush. Iris cristata grows in sizable and very dense stands, where it is difficult to count individuals in the stand. Though hardly scarce, it is always a crowd-pleaser, especially when a large colony is found. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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| Other Common Name(s) | Crested Dwarf Iris, Crested Iris | |
| State Rank | S5 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
