514 lEIDACE^. (iris family.) 



than the ovary; capsule oblong, turgid, with rounded angles. — Wet places, 

 Newf. to Fla., west to Minn, and Ark. May, June. 



2. I. prisniatica, Pursh. (Slender Blue Flag.) Stem very slender, 

 terete; leaves narroa-lfj linear (2-3'' wide); flowers slender-peduncled (1^-2' 

 long), the tube extremely short ; ovary 3-angled, each side 2-grooved ; capsule 

 sharply triangular. (I. Virginica, Man. ; not L.) — Marshes near the coast, 

 Maine to N. C. June. 



I. Caroliniaxa, Watson, resembling n. 1, but with longer laxer and 

 greener leaves, and the very large seeds in one row in each cell, probably 

 occurs in S. Va. 



-i- ^- Flowers copper-colored or dull reddish-broicn ; petals widelij spreading. 



3. I. fulva, Ker. Stem and leaves as n. 1 ; tube of the perianth cylindri- 

 cal, as long as tlie 6-augled ovary; style-branches narrow. (I. cuprea, Pursh.) 

 — Swamps, S. 111. and Mo. to La. and Ga. May. 



* * Stems low (3-6' high), from tufted and creeping slender (or here and there 

 tuberous-thickened) rootstocks, I - 3-flowered ; tube of the perianth long and 

 slender ; the violet-blue divisions nearly equal. 



4. I. verna, L. (Dwarf Iris.) Leaves linear, grass-like, rather glau- 

 cous ; the thread-like tube of the perianth about the length of the divisions, 

 which are obloug-obovate and on slender claws, the outer ones slightly hairy 

 down the orange-yellow base, crestless : capsule obtusely triangular. — Wooded 

 hillsides, Lancaster Co., Penn., to S. C, west to Ky. and Ala. April. — Flow- 

 ers sometimes white with yellowish centre. 



5. I. eristata, Ait. (Crested Dwarf Iris.) Leaves lanceolate (3-5' 

 long when grown) ; tliose of the spathe ovate-lanceolate, shorter than the thread- 

 like tube of the perianth, which is 2' long and tnuch longer than the light blue 

 obovate sliort-clawed divisions, the outer ones crested but beardless ; capsule 

 sharply triangular. — In the mountains from Md. to X. C. ; Trumbull Co., 

 Ohio (fngrahau)) ; knobs of S. Ind. ]\Iay. — Flowers fragrant. 



6. I. lacustris, Nutt. (Lake Dwarf Iris.) Tube of the perianth rather 



shorter than the divisions (yellowish, 4- f long), dilated upward, not exceeding 



the spathe; otherwise as in the last, and too near it. — Gravelly shores of 



Lakes Huron and ]\Lichigan. May. 



I. PseudAcorus, L., the Yellow Iris of European marshes, with very 

 long linear leaves and bright yellow beardless flowers, is reported as having 

 become established in Mass. and N. Y. 



2. NEMASTYLIS, Nutt. 



Perianth spreading, tlie segments similar and nearly equal. Filaments more 

 or less united into a tube. Style short, its slender 2-parted branches alternate 

 witli the anthers and exserted between them ; stigmas minute, terminal. Cap- 

 sule oblong or ovate, truncate, dehiscent at the summit. Seeds globose or 

 angled. — Stems terete, from coated bulbs, with few ])licate leaves, and few 

 fugacious flowers from 2-bracted spathes. (Name from vrifxa, a thread, and 

 <TTv\is, sti/le, for the slender style-branches.) 



1. !N". geminiflora, Nutt. Stem I- 2° high; spathes 2-flowered ; peri- 

 anth pale l)lue-purple, 1-2' broad, the divisions oblong-obovate ; capsule ob- 

 ovate, Y long. — E. Kan. to Tex- 



