BLUE AND PUR PLE 



This species is more common southward, while the pink- veined 

 wood sorrel abounds in the cool woods of the North. 



^P' LARGER BLUE FLAG. FLEUR DE LIS. 



/r/s versicolor. Iris Family, 



Stem. — Stout; angled on one side; leafy; one to three feet high. 

 Leaves. — Flat and sword-shaped, with their inner surfaces coherent for 

 about half of their length. Flaioers. — Large and showy; violet-blue, varie- 

 gated with green, yellow, or white ; purple-veined. Perianth. — Six-cleft; 

 the three outer divisions recurved, the three inner smaller and erect. Sta- 

 mens. — Three, covered by the three overarching, petal-like divisions of the 

 style. Pistil. — One, with its style cleft into three petal-like divisions, each 

 of which bears its stigma on its inner surface. 



" Born in the purple, born to joy and pleasance, 

 Thou dost not toil nor spin. 

 But makest glad and radiant with thy presence 

 The meadow and the lin." * 



In both form and color this is one of the most regal of our 

 wild flowers, and it is easy to understand why the fleur-de-lis 

 was chosen as the emblem of a royal house, although the especial 

 flower which Louis VIL of France selected as his badge was 

 probably white. 



It will surprise most of us to learn that the common name 

 which we have borrowed from the French does not signify 

 *' flower-of-the-lily," as it would if literally translated, but 

 *' flower of Louis," Us being a corruption of the name of the 

 king who first adopted it as his badge. 



For the botanist the blue flag })ossesses special interest. It is 

 a conspicuous example of a flower which has guarded itself 

 against self-fertilization, and which is beautifully calculated to 

 secure the opposite result. The position of the stamens is such 

 that their pollen could not easily reach the stigmas of the same 

 flower, for these are borne on the inner surface of the petal-like, 

 overarching styles. There is no prospect here of any seed being 

 set unless the pollen of another flower is secured. Now what are 



* Longfellow. 

 282 



