ORCHID FAMILY 6l 



leafy up to the pair of showy terminal flowers. Leaves about 

 *4 in. wide, the larger ones overtopping the flowers, glabrous. 

 Pedicels Yz to 3 in. long, partly enfolded in the long lanceo- 

 late-acuminate bracts, which are separate from each other. 

 Petals either yellow and with lavender veins or pale laven- 

 der, with deeper-colored veins and a yellow medial portion; 

 tube about % in. long; sepals and petals 1 Z A to 2 in. long. 



The home of this beautiful Iris is the half-dry, open, coni- 

 ferous forest of middle altitudes, it being quite common from 

 Crockers to the Mariposa Grove. The two color forms often 

 grow together and are much admired by tourists. 



2. I. missouriensis Nutt. Western Blue Flag. Stems 

 stout, H to 2 ft. high, nearly naked except at base. Leaves 

 about % in. wide, mostly shorter than the stem, glabrous. 

 Bracts usually opposite, thin and somewhat papery. Petals 

 pale blue, 2 to 2^2 in. long, the tube about % in. long. 



This large-flowered Iris grows in moist places on Snow 

 Creek, in Hetch Hetchy Valley, etc., and is common east of 

 the Sierra Nevada. A white-flowered form is reported from 

 Mono County. 



2. SISYRINCHIUM. 



Low perennials from fibrous roots. Perianth-segments all 

 alike. Style-branches slender. Seeds globular. 



1. S. bellum Wats. Blue-eyed Grass. Stems J^ to 2 ft. 

 high, from a cluster of fibrous roots. Leaves very narrow, 

 shorter than the stem, glabrous. Pedicels 1 in. or less long, 

 projecting from the pair of green sheathing bracts. Flowers 

 blue, yellow at base, about Y% in. long, the six segments equal 

 and similar. Style short, with slender stigmas. Seeds sev- 

 eral, rounded. 



The grass-like leaves and delicate, blue flowers of this plant 

 are well known in California, where it is common on grassy 

 hillsides and in meadows. It is plentiful in Yosemite Valley, 

 blossoming in late spring. 



2. S. elmeri Greene. Characters essentially those of no. 1, 

 but flowers yellow, with purple lines, the segments acute. — 

 Lake Eleanor (type locality), Wawona Road, etc. 



ORCHIDACEAE. Orchid Family. 

 Perennial herbs with alternate leaves (except Listera) some- 

 times reduced to scales, the lower sheathing. Flowers in ra- 

 cemes or spikes or solitary, perfect, irregular. Sepals 3, 

 alike. Petals 3, 2 alike, the third, or "lip," usually differing 



