Iris setosa

Found across a vast circumboreal range — Alaska, Canada, the northeastern United States, Siberia, China, Korea and Japan — Iris setosa, the beachhead iris, is a rhizomatous perennial in the Iridaceae, tolerant of salt spray. Its sturdy, sword-shaped foliage reaches about 60 cm. The flowers, usually a dark blue-violet, have large spreading sepals with dark veining and tiny upright petals at the centre. Flowering occurs in early summer. It grows in moist to wet soil — meadows, marshes, shorelines — in a sunny position.