Life

Stephen Colton's Take on Nature: Yellow Iris, a symbol of grace and nobility

Yellow Iris brightening up our many damp margins and wetlands with its elegant, almost stately looking, yellow flag flowers from June through to August
Yellow Iris brightening up our many damp margins and wetlands with its elegant, almost stately looking, yellow flag flowers from June through to August Yellow Iris brightening up our many damp margins and wetlands with its elegant, almost stately looking, yellow flag flowers from June through to August

FROM the dense cover of a tree thicket, a restless Blackcap rendered its cheery, fluty song, a rich musical warbling, synonymous with the busyness of summer.

Close by in the damp, swampy margins of this Fermanagh woodland edge, the large yellow flowers of Yellow Iris shone from their tall reedy stems, with the long sword-like green leaves fluttering in a gentle breeze.

Surrounding its three upright flower petals are three drooping outer petals marked with fine purple veins. Iris pseudacorus, also known as the yellow flag or water flag, is a native here and throughout Europe with the closely related Stinking Iris, a garden escape, naturalised in some woods and hedgerows, the other species found less frequently throughout Ireland.

This elegant, almost stately looking, yellow flag flowers from June through to August, brightening up our many damp margins and wetlands. Because of its subterranean stems or 'rhizomes', which send out new roots and shoots, the Iris can be very invasive and easily take over, often forming distinctive yellow lines along ditches and marshes.

Feleastram, in Irish, has many cultural affiliations throughout the world, most notably perhaps as the inspiration for the fleur-de-lis symbol widely used in the heraldry of numerous European nations, especially France.

Also spelled fleur-de-lys, French for 'lily flower', the emblem was embraced by the Catholic Church to depict the purity of Mary.

Mac Coitir, in Irish Wild Plants (2006), writes of one legend which tells how the 6th century pagan Frankish King, Clovis, converted to Christianity after his prayers to God were answered, accomplishing victory over his enemies.

In gratitude he replaced the current symbols on his banner with the yellow Iris, Mary's flower. The symbol has been associated with French nobility ever since and many European cities also use it on their coats of arms.

In Ireland too, the religious significance of yellow flag can be seen in the 19th century historian, Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin's description of the feast of Corpus Christi as Díardaoin Álainnna mBínsí Breátha, Beautiful Thursday of the Fine Benches.

On this day rushes and leaves of yellow Iris were used to cover benches outside houses as a mark of respect to those who sat there, (O'Dowd, Anne, Green rushes under your feet, 2011).

The sunny Yellow Iris is a sign of summer in full flow
The sunny Yellow Iris is a sign of summer in full flow The sunny Yellow Iris is a sign of summer in full flow

Mac Coitir again notes that Irish folklorist, Kevin Danaher, wrote of bunches of "flaggers" being put in fishing boats in Co Cork, to protect and bring good luck.

Stretching further back to the legend of Midhir and Étaín from early Irish literature, Étaín a beautiful maiden of the ancient tribe Tuatha Dé Danann has hair which is compared to the striking flower: ''Two plaits of hair she had, four locks in each plait... and the colour of her hair was like yellow flags in summer.''

Searching around for the plant's practical or herbal uses, I came across this unusual cure for rheumatism used in Kerry, from the National Folklore Collection, UCD: "The cure for rheumatism was to heat flag and to put them into a hut. Then they threw water on the flags, and vapour used to rise out of them. Then the people who had rheumatism jumped into the vapour. They stayed in the hut for a few minutes, and then they went into a tub of cold water. This cured the people who had rheumatism."

Retreating from the woodland with the sound of young blue tits and wrens in the background, I spotted a carpet of what Coleridge called, "Hope's gentle gem", the delicate forget-me-not. The azure blue colouring along with the sunny yellow Iris, a further sign of summer in full flow.