■218 Bicknkll: Studies in Sisvrixchium 



the loan of indispcnsiblc material must be deferred to the final 



t • 



writmg. 



Sisyrinchium corymbosum 



Tall and long-leaved, 30-62 cm. high, in scant tufts not fibrose 

 •at base, arising from distinct ascending rootstocks, the crowded 

 roots becoming coarse and woody. Plant pale dull green and 

 glaucesccnt, turning )'elIowish or brownish-green in drying, the 

 ■spathes and bracts of the inflorescence sometimes purplish-tinged : 

 leaves decidedly equitant at base in stout plants, stiffly erect and 

 thickish, or becoming so, some of them usually surpassing the first 

 node of the stem, closely striate, not rugulosc, the edges smooth 

 or nearly so or upwardly ciliolate towards the very acute apex : 

 stem 2-4 mm. wide, flattened, the stem proper often much broader 

 than the firm wing-margins, the sharp edges smooth or nearly so : 

 inflorescence long-branched, fastigiate-subcorymbose, two or three 

 times compound, the second series of branches and the peduncles 

 in clusters of two or three or more, arising from short sheathing 

 bracts ; branches 7-14 cm. long to the slender peduncles which 

 are about as long and more or less serrulate : lowest bracteal leaf 

 foliaceous, erect, 4-8 cm. long, those above much reduced and 

 bract-like, 1.5-3.5 cm. long, usually clasping for about half their 

 length and oppositely bi-carinate at base : spathes erect or de- 

 flected, small and narrow, mostly 12-15 ^^^- ^^"S' the nearl)' 

 equal bracts thin and membranous, delicately nerved, acute or 

 ■ subulate, the margins rather broadly white-hj^aline, the outer one 

 tubular-clasping for at least one third its length ; interior scales 

 much shorter than the bracts : flowers blue, small, numerous, 8-1 1, 

 on cxserted, slightly spreading pedicels, 10-15 mm. long, becom- 

 :ing 15-22 mm. long in fruit; perianth delicate, apparently only 

 8-10 mm. long ; stamineal column 3-4 mm. high : capsules broadly 

 ■oblong, 3-5 mm. high, thick-walled, becoming dark brown ; seeds 

 ■globose, I mm. in diameter, faintly pitted or nearly smooth. 



Florida : " Pine barrens near Jacksonville," A. H. Curtiss, 



■"no.- 4584, Curtiss' Second Distribution of plants of the southern 



United States," March 17, 1894, just In flower; June I, 1894, 



F 



•over-ripc fruit. In Herb. U. S. National Museum. 



Alabama : Mobile, Dr. Chas. Mohr, '' Damp grassy banks : 

 just in flower April 5, 1897. In Herb. Dr. Chas. Mohr. Ap- 

 parently a reduced form of the type, more slender and less 

 'branched, with elongated bracteal leaf. 



A fine species, when well developed much the largest of the 

 :genus in the eastern United States. It is well characterized by its 



>> 



