The bearded iris variety is for the most part the easiest to cultivate and the most easily propagated. They have become very popular in the garden. They grow in any good free garden soil, the smaller and more delicate species needing only the aid of turfy ingredients, either peaty or loamy, to keep it light and open in texture. A "beard" is a term used to describe the marking inside the center of each petal. If an iris is bearded, then the central stripe usually another colour (but not always), and reaches halfway down the length of the petal has fuzzy hairs growing on it. If a plant is referred to as "beardless", then this marking is without the hair. Iris is a genus of flowering plants with showy flowers which takes its name from the Latin word for rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species as well as countless garden cultivars. Blue Flag Iris and other varitations of those names, is a species of Iris native to North America where it is common in sedge meadows, marshes, and along streambanks and shores. It is a perennial herb, usually 10-80 centimeter. high. This iris tends to form large clumps from thick, creeping rhizomes. The unwinged, erect stems generally have basal leaves that are more than 1 cm. wide. Leaves are folded on the midribs so that they form an overlapping flat fan. The well developed blue flower has 6 petals and sepals spread out nearly flat and have two forms. The longer sepals are hairless and have a greenish-yellow blotch at their base. The inferior ovary is bluntly angled. Flowers are usually light to deep blue and in bloom during May to July. Fruit is a 3-celled, bluntly angled capsule. The large seeds can be observed floating in the fall. Known by the Manipuri name kombirei, Iris flowers have a special significance in the Manipuri New Year, or the festival of Cheraoba. On this day, Iris flowers are given as offering to god.