clogging natural waterways. In culture The Iris is one of the flowers listed as birth flower for February. In Christianity, the iris represents Our Lady of Sorrows as its sharp leaves are like swords. The Iris croatica is the unofficial National Flower of Croatia. Iris nigricans, the black iris is the national flower of Jordan. Iris bismarckiana, the Nazareth Iris, is the symbol of the city of Upper Nazareth. In 1998, Iris lacustris, the Dwarf Lake iris was designated the state wildflower of Michigan, where the vast majority of populations exist. In 1990, the Louisiana iris was voted the state wildflower of Louisiana, though the state flower is the magnolia blossom. In Iran and Kashmir, Iris kashmiriana and Iris germanica are most commonly grown on Muslim grave yards. An iris — species unspecified — is one of the state flowers of Tennessee. It is generally accepted that the species Iris versicolor, the Purple Iris is the state flower alongside the wild-growing purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata), the state's other floral emblem. Greeneville, Tennessee, is home to the annual Iris Festival celebrating the iris, local customs, and culture. The species Iris versicolor is also the provincial flower of Quebec, having replaced the Madonna lily which is not native to the province. and it is the official flower of Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity. The artist George Gessert has specialised in breeding irises. The artist Vincent van Gogh painted several famous pictures of irises. The American artist Joseph Mason – a friend of John James Audubon – painted a precise image of what was then known as the Louisiana flag or copper iris (Iris fulva), to which Audubon subsequently added two Northern paraula birds (Parula americana) for inclusion as Plate 15 in his Birds of America. The artist Philip Hermogenes Calderon painted an iris in his 1856 work Broken Vows; he followed the principles of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. An ancient belief is that the iris serves as a warning to be heeded, as it was named for the messenger of Olympus. It also conveys images of lost love and silent grief, for young girls were led into the afterlife by Iris. Broken Vows was accompanied with poetry by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow when it was first exhibited. French King Clovis I (466–511), when he converted to Christianity, changed his symbol on his banner from three toads to irises (the Virgin's flower). The fleur-de-lis,