Narcissales.] 



IRIDACEiE. 



159 



Order XLVII. IRIDACEiE.— Irids. 



Irides, Jiiss. Gen. 57. (1789).— Ensatae, Ker in Ann. of Botany, 1.219. (1805).— Irideae.iZ. Brown Prodr- 

 302. (1810) ; Ker. Gen. Irid. (1827) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 44. (1830) ; Meisner, p. 391.— Iridaceae, Ed. 

 pr. ccxl. ; Endl. Gen. Ixi. 



Diagnosis. — Narcissal Endorjcns ivith 3 stamem opposite the sepals, and anthers turned 



outwards. 



Herbaceous plants, or very seldom under-shrubs, usually smooth ; the haii's, if there 

 are aiiy, simple. Roots tuberous or fibrous. Leaves equitant and distichous in most 

 genera. Inflorescence termmal, in spikes, corj-mbs, or panicles, or crowded, sometimes 

 radical. Bracts spathaceous, the partial ones often scarious ; the sepals occasionally 

 rather herbaceous. Calyx and corolla adherent or colom-ed, their di\dsions either par- 

 tially cohering, or entu-ely separate ; sometimes irregular, the 3 petals being occasion- 

 ally very short. Stamens 3, arismg from the base of the sepals ; filaments distinct or 

 connate ; anthers burstmg externally length^^-ise, fixed by theu- base, 2-celled. Ovary 

 3-celled, cells many-seeded ; oxiiles anatropal ; style 1 ; stigmas 3, often petaloid, some- 



.^^ 



Fig. ex. 



times 2-Upped. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, with a loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds 

 attached to the inner angle of the cells, sometimes to a central column be^commg^oose. 



Fig. CVII. 

 Fig. CIX 



-Diagram of an Iris. 

 -Iris germanicR . 



Fig. CVIII.— Ripe cap.sule of an Iris. 

 F'ig. ex.— Vertical section of its seed 



