46 HAEMODOEACAE. 



1. SISYKINCHIUM L. Scapose herbs with rootstocks. Leaf -blades flat. 

 Flowers in 1 or more clusters arising from usually 2 bracts (spathe). Sepals 

 and petals blue, white, or yellow, nearly equal, distinct, deciduous. Capsule 

 globose to cubic. Seeds dry. — Blue-eyed grass. 



Tufts of plants densely fibrous at the base. 1. S- fuscatum. 



Tufts of plants not fibrous at the base. 



Scapes and leaf-blades mostly 2-4 mm. wide, or more : 



pedicel.? finally much spreading, or recurved. 2. .S*. solstiiialc. 



Scapes and leaf-blades mostly 1-2 mm. wide : pedicels erect 

 or nearly so. 

 Leaves and scapes mostly smooth-edged : scapes becoming 



flexuous : peduncles very slender, 5-12 cm. long. 3. S. flafjcUum. 



Leaves and scapes serrulate, erect : peduncles 3-7 cm. 



long. -i- (S. miamiensc. 



1. S. fuscatum Bicknell. Plants rather stiff, 15-50 cm. high, more or less 

 fibrous at ba^e, dull-green and glaucesceut, drying dark: leaf-blades 0.5-2.5 

 mm. wide, close-striate the edges smooth or roughened: scapes straight and 

 slender, longer than the leaves, 0.75-2 mm. wide, narrowly winged: spathes 

 narrow, 1.5-1.8 cm. long, the subequal bracts firmly herbaceous, striate, 

 cuspidate-acuminate: interior scales much shorter than the bracts: flowers on 

 erect exserted pedicels: perianth blue, about 10 mm. long, the narrow sepals 

 and petals prominently veined: capsules 2.5-4 mm. high, broadly subglobose, 

 drj'ing dark. — Pinelands. 



2. S. solstitiale Bicknell. Plants chaffy and slightly fibrillose at the base, 

 2-4.6 dm. tall or taller, pale-green or glaucescent, becoming brownish-green 

 when dry: leaf -blades very straight, becoming 4 mm. wide, narrowed to the 

 stiff aeicular apex, striate-nerved and minutely rugulose, minutely serrulate, 

 becoming smooth: scapes about twice as tall as the leaves, once or twice 

 spirally twisted, becoming 3 mm. wide, the firm wings hyaline-margined and 

 obscurely serrulate, becoming smooth: spathes dull-green, 20-25 mm. long, 

 the bracts stiff, nearly equal, the outer one narrowly acuminate: interior 

 scales finally equalling the bracts: flowers on slightly exserted pedicels: 

 perianth blue, about 12 mm. long. — Pinelands. 



3. S. flagellum Bicknell. Plants very slender and flexuous, 1-3.2 dm. high, 

 slightly glaucescent, drying dark: leaf -blades narrow and flexuous, 0.5-3 mm. 

 wide, few-striate, smooth-edged : scapes 0.75-1.5 mm. wide, narrowly margined, 

 smooth-edged, often flexuous and geniculate at the nodes: spathes often 

 deflected, 1.5-2 cm. long, the bracts subecjual or the inner one longer, and often 

 scarious-margined to the apex, the outer one narrowly acuminate: interior 

 scales much shorter than the bracts : capsules on erect slightly exserted pedicels, 

 subglobose, dark, about 4 mm. high. — Pinelands. — F, K. 



4. S. miamiense Bicknell. Plants dull-green and glaucescent, drying dark, 

 2 dm. tall or more: leaf -blades 1-1.5 mm. wide, striate-nerved, serrulate: 

 scapes of the width of the leaves, wing-margined, denticulate-serrulate, bear- 

 ing 2-3 erect peduncles at the top and sometimes an ascending branch lower 

 down: spathes 1.3-1.5 cm. long, the outer bracts stifily acute, slightly longer 

 than the scarious-obtuse inner one: perianth blue: capsules on exserted pedi- 

 cels, dark, obovoid, 3-5 mm. high. — Everglades and pinelands. — {Bah.) 



Family 3. HAEMODORACEAE. Bloodwort Family. 



Perennial caulescent herbs. Leaves alternate, often mainly basal: 

 blades narrow. Flowers perfect, in terminal clusters. Calyx of 3 sepals. 

 Corolla of 3 petals, persistent. Androeeium of 3 stamens opposite the 

 petals. Gynoecium of 3 united carpels. Ovai-y inferior, 3-celled or 

 rarely 1-celled. Styles united. Fruit a loculicidally 3-valved capsule. 



