4(2). Leafy bract subtending spathes less than or slightly longer than the spathes, 

 or absent; ovary and capsule 3-angled 4. /. virginica. 



4. Leafy bract subtending spathes usually more than twice as long as the spathes; 



ovary and capsule 6-angled (5) 



5(4). Largest leaves mostly about 15 mm. wide, essentially erect; inner 3 



segments usually notched at apex 



5. /. hexagona var. flexicaulis. 



5. Largest leaves more than 20 mm. wide, arcuate-spreading; inner 3 perianth 



segments rounded to subacute at apex 6. /. brevicaulis. 



1. Iris niissouriensis Nutt. Western iris. Fig. 344. 



Perennial herb with stout, creeping rootstock; stem slender, simple, terete, 

 3-5 dm. tali; equitant leaves usually basal, shorter than or as long as the stem, 

 4-10 mm. wide; bracts scarious, 4-7 cm. long, acute; pedicels 2-8 cm. long; 

 perianth segments 6-clawed, united below into a tube 5-8 mm. long, the 3 outer 

 segments broad, spreading or reflexed, 5-7 cm. long, glabrous, without crest, the 

 3 inner segments somewhat shorter, erect, narrow, white to blue, often with 

 darker veins; capsule 3-7 cm. long, 6-angled; seeds 4 mm. long, obovate. 



Wet mt. meadows in N. M. (widespread) and Ariz. (Apache, Navajo, Cochise 

 and Coconino cos.), May-Sept.; N. D. to B.C., s. to N.M., Ariz, and Calif. 



2. Iris Pseudaconis L. Yellow-flag. Fig. 345. 



Rhizome stout and extensively spreading; leaves erect, somewhat arched and 

 nodding at tip, linear-attenuate, about 2 cm. wide, forming clumps to about 1 m. 

 tall; flowering stalk stout, erect, about as tall as clump of leaves, with 1 or 2 short 

 leafy bracts; flowers 1 or 2 together at apex of flower stalk, also often in the 

 axil of the upper leaf; involucral bracts 2, shorter than flower; the 3 outer perianth 

 segments 5-8 cm. long and arching, clear-yellow or sometimes with flecks of 

 brown at base and on claw, with suborbicular to ovate blade and a broad claw 

 with involute edges; the 3 inner perianth segments yellow, linear to linear- 

 pandurate, obtuse, to about 25 mm. long; capsule cylindric-prismatic to ellipsoid, 

 5-8 cm. long, bright-green, often lustrous, turgid, bluntly 3-angled; seeds sub- 

 orbicular or somewhat angular from pressure, corky, about 7 mm. in diameter. 



Usually standing in 1 to 3 feet of water in ponds, in open woods, rare in s.e. 

 Tex. (known only from Hardin Co.), Apr.-May; introd. from Euras. and Afr., 

 rather aggressive as an escape from cult. 



3. Iris fulva Ker. Red-flag. Fig. 346. 



Rhizome rather stout, widely spreading, with scars or fibers of decayed leaves; 

 leaves erect, linear-attenuate, to about 9 dm. long; flower stalk rather slender, 

 erect, slightly fractiflex, often overtopping the leaves; flowers 1 or 2 at summit 

 of flower stalk, often also in axils of 1 or 2 upper stem leaves; involucral bracts 2, 

 the longer attenuate one exceeding the flower; the 3 outer perianth segments red 

 to copper-colored, spreading-arching, 45-55 mm. long, with oval to obovate-oval 

 apically notched blade and a short paler claw; the 3 inner perianth segments 

 red to copper-colored, narrowly obovate to elliptic-obovate, cuneate at base and 

 notched at apex, about two thirds as long as outer perianth segments; capsule 

 ellipsoid to oval, 45-55 mm. long, green, not beaked but sometimes constricted 

 near apex, 6-angled, rather thick-walled; seeds orbicular to semiorbicular, about 

 7 mm. in diameter. 



In marshes and wet meadows, ditches and on stream banks, reported from e. 

 Tex. but no specimen seen, spring; Ga. to e. Tex. (?), Mo. and Ky. 



679 



