Is this an orchid?

[maggs]

A friend gave me this plant a few months ago and I have it in ordinary potting soil, this morning I discovered a beautiful flower and a few more buds coming out, she does not know the name neither do I, is this an orchid? any help please

[coeruleo]

nope. i think it is a tigridia. a relative of the iris family of plants. very pretty and sometimes hard to find, they come in many colors.

[panam]

Though it's not an orchid, Brenda, it sure is pretty! It looks nice in that little grouping, too.

[Janet]

I think it's a walking iris. I've not seen a yellow one before, but I have a purple one. It's called a "walking" iris because new plantlets grow from the budstalk after the flowers have bloomed. each flower lasts for only a day, but there can be a few sequential flowers on each budstalk. Mine bloom for me in late winter, very early spring. In my climate, they're an inside plant that goes outside for the summer.

[maggs]

Thanks to all who gave me the info, there is a plant shop near me that the woman said she has a blue so I will check her out especially as Coeruleo says that it is hard to find, but I do not think over here in the Caribbean that may be the case it is just that some people do not know what some flowers are called and really do not pay much attention to plant life cause they take things for granted just as long as there is a pretty flower, so sad.

[Janet]

Another characteristic of the walking iris is that the flower buds balloon up before they open. The budstalks come out of the end of what looks like a leaf with a very heavy center vein.

[PaphMadMan]

It does look similar to Tigridia (shell flower), but this is Neomarica (walking iris), probably Neomarica longifolia. Both are iris family, not orchids.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

It is a lovely bloom. Nice that everyone here could identify it for you.

cheers,
BD

[panam]

It is a lovely bloom. Nice that everyone here could identify it for you.

cheers,
BD

I agree - OrchidTalk has the nicest people! I came here for the orchids and stayed because of all the lovely members. I'm always impressed by the knowledge of so many OrchidTalkers.

[maggs]

Well folks I did some research on the internet and discovered the biological name of the plant is Neomarica Longifolia (walking iris, African iris yellow ) so I thank you all once again, as I said before I am going to get the other color too