Rhizomes compact, dark brown, slender, 0.5-0.6 cm diam., covered with old leaf bases; roots few, fibrous. Stems simple, solid, slender, 0.25-2 dm. Leaves: basal with blade light green, pink or red-tinged basally, finely ribbed, linear-acute, 2.5-5 dm × 0.3-0.5 cm, somewhat glaucous, margins not thickened; cauline 1-3, imbricated, blade bractlike, inflated. Inflorescence units usually 2-flowered; spathes sometimes flushed pink or purple apically, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 5-10 cm × 3-7 mm, unequal, outer much shorter and narrower than inner, herbaceous, margins often scarious, apex acute. Flowers: perianth cream or very pale yellow, with deeper yellow or lavender veins; floral tube linear, slender, 4.5-12 cm; sepals with bluish tinge and veins, oblanceolate, 4.6-7 × 1-2 cm, base gradually attenuate; petals lanceolate, 3-5.5 × 0.6-1.2 cm, base gradually attenuate, apex emarginate; ovary 1-1.8 cm, base abruptly attenuate into pedicel (when present), apex gradually acuminate into floral tube; style 2-3 cm, crests 1.5-2 cm, sometimes exceeding arms, apex narrowly pointed; stigmas tongue-shaped, margins entire; pedicel absent or 0.5-1 cm at anthesis. Capsules sometimes on elongated pedicel, oblong, round in cross section, sharply beaked, 2-3 cm. Seeds buff, slightly compressed. 2n = 40.

Flowering Apr--Jun. Open, coniferous forests; Calif., Oreg.

Iris chrysophylla hybridizes with I. bracteata, I. douglasiana, I. innominata, I. macrosiphon, I. purdyi, I. tenax, and I. tenuissima.