The Yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus), also known as the Yellow flag iris, is really a spring bloomer but I’m still seeing some flowers in the damper boggy and waterside areas during my countryside wanders so I thought I’d share some photos of them before they all disappear for the summer.

Of course, the wonderfully green, spear-like leaves don’t disappear and they are, in fact, where this plant got one of its common names, Segg. According to Richard Mabey’s Flora Britannica, Segg is a variant of sedge and is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for a short sword, though I have also seen Segg spelt secg and the Oxford Dictionary says sedge came originally from the Old English word secg, which has Germanic origins and whence also came the Latin secare meaning ‘to cut’ – hence secateurs. Here endeth today’s lesson!