Iris pseudacorus

Derivation of the botanical name:

Iris, ιριϛ, ιδοϛ, rainbow; female messenger, announcer of the gods, the Greek goddess of the rainbow.

pseudacorus, ψευδηϛ, false, i.e. resembling but not equalling; acorus, the generic name of the sweet sedge. Iris pseudacorus is simply often called ” segg,” a corruption of the word sedge, and both derived from the Anglo-Saxon word segg, a small sword, the name being employed in obvious allusion to the long sword-shaped leaves that rise so boldly from the water. It is also called the fleur-de-lys and the yellow flag, the outer segments of the perianth fluttering in the breeze in a degree that suggested to some early writers the waving of a flag.

The Hebrew name: אירוס, iris, transliteration from the scientific name.

• The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.

Link: Fleur-de-lis,fleur-de-lys, fleur-de-luce,lily flower, שושן, פלור דה ליס