BLACKBERRY- LILY 



About twenty species of Iris are found distributed 

 throughout North America and the name Fleur-de-lis 

 is generally applied to them all. 



BLACKBERRY-LILY 



Belamcdnda Chinensis. Parddnthus sinensis 



A perennial Chinese plant, an escape from old gardens 

 and now found on the roadsides of New England, New 

 York, and farther south. June-August. 



Stem. — Three to four feet high, 

 erect, leafy. 



Leaves. — Iris-like, equitant, eight 

 to eighteen inches long, about one 

 inch broad. 



Flowers. — In a loose terminal 

 cluster, orange, dotted with crimson 

 and purple. The three sepaloid seg- 

 ments of the perianth a trifle longer 

 than the three petaloid. 



Stamens. — Three; style slender; 

 stigma three-lobed. 



Fruit. — A capsule more than an 

 inch long; the three valves are re- 

 flexed and the black, shining seeds 

 cling to the central placenta in a 

 way to suggest a blackberry. 



Fruit of Blackberry-Lily. 

 Belamcdnda Chinensis 



One meets the Blackberry-Lily by the roadside, 

 rarely is it found within the garden gate. There 

 are two reasons for this : the f oHage, though of the Iris 

 type, adds nothing to the foliage effect of the garden, 

 and the blossom, though apparently a Lily, is not a 

 Lily, and is, moreover, small, not more than two and 

 a half inches across. These blossoms last but for 



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