176 IRIDACEAE 



vate; filaments shorter than the style; fruit 7-8 mm. thick. Sisyrinchium 

 grandiflorum Dougl. Wet meadows: B.C. — Ida. — Utah — Calif. Son. — Submont. 

 Mr-Je. 



2. IRIS L. Blue Flag, Fleur-de-lis. 



Herbs, with creeping, horizontal rootstocks. Leaves sword-shaped or linear. 

 Flowers solitary or in terminal panicles. Sepals and petals highly colored, in 

 ours blue, the former spreading or recurved, the latter usually smaller and erect. 

 Stamens 3; filaments adnate below to the base of the sepals. Ovary 3-celIed; 

 styles petal-like, arching over the stamens; stigmas under the usually 3-lobed 

 tips. Ovules numerous. Capsule elongated, 3- or 6-angled. Seeds in 1 or 2 

 rows, vertically flattened. 



1. I. missouriensis Nutt. Stem 2-10 dm. high, about 5 mm. in diameter; 

 leaves 1-5 dm. long, 5-10 mm. broad; perianth pale blue, variegated, glabrous, 

 crestless; sepals broadly oblanceolate, about 8 cm. long; petals oblanceolate, 

 ascending, about 6 cm. long; capsule oblong-elliptic, about 4 cm. long and 1.5 

 cm. thick, 6-ridged. /. pelogonus Goodding. Meadows, marshes and along 

 streams: N.D.— N.M.— Cahf.— B.C. Plain— Moid. My-Jl. 



Family 29. ORCHIDACEAE. Orchis Family. 



Perennial herbs, usually succulent, with corms, bulbs, or rootstocks, and 

 tuberous or fibrous roots. Flowers perfect, irregular. Sepals 3, similar or 

 nearly so, the lower two sometimes united. Petals 3; the two lateral ones 

 similar; the median one (the lip) usually very dissimilar, sometimes pro- 

 longed below into a spur, usually inferior by twisting of the ovary. Stamens 

 3, of which 1 or 2 are abortive, adnate to the pistil and forming a column. 

 Fertile anthers usually solitary, in a few genera 2, usually 2-celled, contain- 

 ing 2-3 waxy or powdery pollinia, these pollen-masses usually stalked and 

 often attached at the base to a viscid gland. Gynoecium of 3 united car- 

 pels; ovary inferior, 1-celled, twisted. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds numerous. 

 Endosperm wanting. 



Fertile stamens 2 ; lip a large inflated sack. 



Sepals distinct ; lip with an abnost conical obtuse prolongation below. 



1. Criosanthes. 

 Lower sepals united; lip rounded-saccate. 2. Cypripedium. 



Fertile stamen 1. 



PoUinia caudate at the base, attached to a viscid disk or gland. 



Glands enclosed in a pouch-like fold; lip 3-lobed. 3. Orchis. 



Glands not enclosed in a pouch. 



Gland surrounded by a thin membrane; lip toothed at the apex. 



4. COELOGLOSSUM. 



Gland naked; lip entire. 



Sepals 3-5-nerved; plants with rootstock or fibro-fleshy roots. 



Stem scapiform; leaves 1-2, basal; anther-sacks divergent; plants in 

 ours with rootstocks. 

 Basal leaves 2; ovary straight. 5. Lyslvs. 



Basal leaf 1 ; ovary arcuate. 6. LYSIELLA. 



Stem leafy; anther-cells parallel or nearly so; plants with fleshy-flbrous 



roots. 7. LlMNORCHIS. 



Sepals 1-nerved; plants with rounded or oblong, undivided biennial corms. 



8. Piperia. 

 Pollinia not produced into caudicles. 

 Pollinia granulose or powdery. 



Anthers opcrculate: leaves alternate. 



Green plants, with large leaves. 9. Serapias. 



Plant wliite, turning brownish; leaves reduced, scale-like. 



10. Eburophyton. 

 Anthers not operculate. 



Leaves green, borne on the stem. 



Leaves alternate; spike mostly twisted. 11. Iridium. 



Leaves 2, opposite; spike not twisted. 12. OpHRYS. 



Leaves usually white-reticulate, basal. 13. Peramium. 



Pollinia smooth or waxy. 



Plants with corms or solid bulbs, rarely with coralloid roots; leaves not scale- 

 Uke. 



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