This striking species can be found escaped in scattered localities throughout Missouri. It is a widely cultivated plant and many cultivars exist. The plants can vary somewhat in size and greatly in flower color. Flowers can range from white to yellow or red to violet. The way to differentiate this species from others is by the well developed aerial stems, the bearded flowers, and the foliaceous bracts that subtended the flowers. The bracts should only be scarious in the apical half at most. Plants which share the other characteristics but have completely scarious bracts are I. pallida Lam.