Rhizomes 1.3 cm between offshoots, forming very dense clumps. Leaf blades 0.5-1.3 cm wide. Capsules 2-3.2 cm. 2n = 42.

Flowering mid Apr--mid May. Acid soil, semishaded or open woodlands; Ala., Ark., Fla., Ga., Ky., Md., Miss., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Va., W.Va.

J. K. Small (1929b) illustrated this taxon as the 'mountain form' of Iris verna, without giving it an infraspecific name. In 1933 he did not mention it at all and placed the species in Neubeckia.