Iris lacustris is endemic to the northern shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron, growing nowhere else in the world. Its distribution centers around the Mackinac Straits region, with outliers extending to Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula and Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula. The distribution in the Great Lakes follows the geological feature known as the Niagara Escarpment, a limestone formation extending from the Door Peninsula through Michigan and Ontario to New York. The abundance of dwarf lake iris is greatest in three general areas--the Garden Peninsula,
southeastern Presque Isle and adjacent Alpena counties, and Cheboygan/Emmet counties--where it occurs almost continuously for many miles along the lakeshores and then densely to discontinuously over a few square miles inland. Colonies range in size from the extensive population clusters covering several hundred acres, such as in southern Presque Isle County, to those consisting of a few straggly stems persisting in isolated inland localities or forming small colonies on Great Lakes islands. – Michigan Natural Features Inventory
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