BiCKNELL : Studies in Sisyrixciiium 221 



Sisyrinchium tortum 



Stiff and erect in thin tufts coarsely fibrous at base arising from 

 a dense cluster of rather stout fibrous roots; 15-30 cm. high, not 

 turning dark in diying ; leaves firm, the larger ones equaling the 

 stems or nearly so, finally closc-striate and faintly vermiculate-ru- 

 gulose between the nerves, like the stems mostly 1.5—3 ™ri^- ^vidc 

 with the edges smooth or obscurely denticulate-roughened; stem 

 wing-flattened, usually one to four times spirally twisted and some- 

 times forming a shallow sigmoid curve ; node usually only one, 

 bearing a short erect bracteal leafsubequal with the two peduncles 

 or shorter ; occasionally a lower node bears two longer and more 

 slender erect peduncles ; bracteal-leaf with a broad clasping base 

 which is strongly striate and oppositely more or less bicarinate ; 

 terminal peduncles two, rarely three, short, 2-5 cm. long, parallel 

 or divergent, usually slightly unequal ; spathes usually abruptly 

 broader and thicker than the peduncles, 10— 1 6 mm. long, becom- 

 ing 3 mm. wide ; bracts subcqual or cither one the longer, rather 

 thin and membranous, striate-nerved, the outer one obtuse, or 

 sometimes acute, the margins broadly hyaline, sometimes to the 

 apex, united-clasping for 1-3 mm. at base ; inner bract often 

 broadly obtuse and scarious at apex ; interior scales narrow and 

 attenuate, shorter than the bracts ; flowers pale blue on slender, 

 loosely erect, finally exserted pedicels i 5—22 mm. long ; perianth 

 8-10 mm. long, the rather broad segments very delicately nerved; 

 stamineal column short, 2-4 mm. high. Ceapsule not seen. 



Mississippi and Florida : Biloxi, Miss. Professor S. M. Trac}^, 

 March 15 and 20, 1898, just in flower. St. John's River, P^lorida, 

 in Herb. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, a single specimen on a sheet 

 bearing also specimens of 5. xcropJiylliun Greene, and S. Florida- 

 Jiiun, the former collected by Isaac Burke in 18S8. 



Apparently nearest.^, xcrophylluni Greene, but unmistakably 

 distinct. 



Sisyrinchium Carolinianum 



In loose tufts fibrose -coated at base, arising from erect or as- 

 cending rootstocks, the roots thickly clustered and rather coarsely 

 fibrous, plant pale and glaucescent, often rather a bright yellowish 

 green ; leav^cs often much shorter than the stem, though some- 

 times reaching the first node, rather thin and openly erect, rather 

 weakly striate-nerved, mostly 2-1 mm. wide or a few much broader, 

 even 5 mm. wide, acuminate, the margins usually distinctly serru- 

 late : stems erect, 2-3 mm. wide, broadly winged, the edges 

 mostly serrulate or even ciliolate ; nodes of stem one or two, each 

 bearing a foliaceous bracteal leaf and two or three rather long 



