— herbarium · mourning iris

specimen pressed

mourning iris

no. 02 · h-coll.

binomial iris pullata atrii
family iridaceae
habitat disused atria; the cracked floor of a glasshouse no one tends

black to the depth of a wet stone. the flower is broad, with six falls and three standards; nearly all dark, though the throat keeps a small lilac sign for whichever bee remembers it.

the iris takes a long time to settle. it prefers the centre of a courtyard once meant for entrance, where the rain comes straight down and no one walks through. it is sometimes mistaken for a sign of solitude, sometimes for one of memory. it has nothing to do with either. see also: black, silence, the forget-me-not for comparison.

field note — i watched a single bloom for one afternoon and it did not move. the wind moved.

atlas · return