The Urban Pantheist

Yellow flag and creeping buttercup at Ward's Pond.

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Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Riverway, between Brookline Ave and Parkway road.
Urban species #154: Yellow flag Iris pseudacoris

It's surprising to come across a wildflower so large and showy as yellow flag, especially in the city. This attractive iris has escaped cultivation and can be found in drainage ditches, pondsides and other wet urban areas. Sometimes, like cattail, it's deliberately planted in polluted areas, because it is known to remove metals from the soil. Unfortunately, despite being useful and beautiful, this plant is also powerfully invasive, forming monocultural stands in the same way that Japanese knotweed, purple loosestrife, and phragmites reeds do.


Location: Ward's pond, Olmsted Park.