482 
HJEMODORACEAE. (BLOODWOKT FAMILY.) 
ter, with fibrous roots, and a spreading cluster of thin and fiat 
lanceolate leaves ; the small flowers in a wand-like spiked ra¬ 
ceme, terminating a long and naked slender scape (2°-3° high). 
Bracts awl-shaped, minute. (’AXerpis, a female slave who grinds 
corn, the name applied to these plants in allusion to the apparent 
mealiness dusted over the blossoms.) 
1. A. fariuosa, L. Flowers oblong-tubular, white; lobes lan¬ 
ceolate-oblong. — Grassy or sandy woods, common, especially south¬ 
ward. July, Aug. 
2. A. aurca, Walt. Flowers bell-shaped, yellow (fewer and 
shorter); lobes short-ovate. — Barrens, &c., N. Jersey and southward. 
Order 118. IRIDACEiE. (Iris Family.) 
Herbs, with equitant 2-ranked leaves , and regular or ir¬ 
regular perfect flowers , the tube of the 6-cleft petal-like 
perianth coherent with the 3- celled ovary , and 3 distinct 
or monadelphous stamens with extrorse anthers . — Flowers 
from a 2-leaved spathe, usually showy and ephemeral. 
Style single : stigmas 3. Pod 3-celled, loculicidal, many- 
seeded. Seeds anatropous: embryo straight in fleshy al¬ 
bumen. 
1. IRIS, L. Flower-de-Luce. 
Perianth 6-cleft; the 3 outer divisions spreading or reflexed, 
the 3 inner smaller and erect. Stamens distinct, placed before the 
outer divisions of the perianth, and under the 3 petal-like stigmas. 
Pod 3 -6-angled. Seeds flattened.—Perennials with creeping, 
often tuberous (acrid) rootstocks, sword-shaped or grassy leaves, 
and large showy flow r ers. (’ipts, the rainbow deified, anciently 
applied to this genus on account of the bright and varied colors of 
the blossoms.) 
* Stems leafy , often branching: rootstocks thick: flowers crestless. 
1. I* Versicolor, L. . (Larger Blue Flag.) Stem stout, 
angled on one side; leaves sword-shaped (|' wide); ovary obtusely 
triangular with the sides flat; pod oblong, turgid, with rounded 
angles. —Wet places, common. May, June.—Stem 2°-3? high. 
Flowers blue, variegated with green, yellow and white at the base, 
and veined with purple. 
2. I. Virglnica, L. (Slender Blue Flag.) Stem slender, 
