58 CLASS TRIANDRIA CONTINUED. 



together by the surface. Unlike most of the family, 

 the Persian, and also the vernal Iris (J. verna) of 

 Carolina, are possessed of a delicate and fragrant 

 odor, though not equally perceptible to all persons. 

 They differ in the nature of their roots ; in most of 

 the species they are progressive horizontal tubers, 

 but a tew, as the Persian, and the Iris Xiphium, have 

 bulbous roots, like Tulips. 



About midsummer, in most of our dry and open fields 

 and meadows, you will frequently meet with something 

 like an Iris in miniature, with bright blue flowers, and 

 leaves so narrow and ensiform, as to give it both the 

 appearance and nickname of a grass. This plant, 

 the Sisyrinchium, presents terminal spathes or sheathes 

 of two leaves each, sending out from time to time, 

 no inconsiderable number of small flowers, and round- 

 ish three-celled capsules. The corolla, unlike the 

 Iris, however, consists of six equal spreading divisions, 

 each of them terminating abruptly in a short point, 

 like a bristle ; the stamens, three in number, are 

 only known as so many by the anthers, the filaments 

 being so united, as to render it truly monadelphous, 

 but placed here, because of its affinities to the Iris ; 

 the stigma is three-cleft, but quite inconspicuous, 

 compared with that of the Iris. 



In ditches you will not unfrequently meet with a 

 humble, unobtrusive plant, hitherto known only to 

 botanists, by the name of Proserpinaca. The stems 

 are undivided above, only a few inches out of the 

 water, with the immersed or drowned leaves finely 

 pinnatifid, in divisions slender as hairs, while the 

 upper leaves, better nourished, are only divided on 

 the margin into serratures, or sharp teeth. In the 

 bosom of these upper leaves, about the months of 

 July and August, you will perceive small greenish 

 flowers, consisting of a superior three-parted persist- 



