Iris versicolor grows in marshes, wet meadows and shorelines across eastern Canada, including Quebec, the Atlantic provinces, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the eastern United States. It spreads from thick, creeping rhizomes into large clumps. The name versicolor means variously coloured. It is a parent of two hybrid irises, Iris × robusta and Iris × sancti-cyri.
It is Quebec's provincial flower, a designation made in 1999. All parts contain toxic compounds, and the sap can irritate skin, so the plant should be handled with gloves and kept away from livestock.