454 IRIDACEAE. 
2. Sisyrinchium Atlanticum Bicknell. Eastern Blue-eyed Grass, 
(Fig. 1084.) 
Sisyrinchium Altlanticum Bicknell, Bull. Torr. 
Club, 23: 134. 1896. 
Similar to the preceding, but paler, glaucous 
green, often more tufted, the stem more slender 
and weaker, rather narrowly 2-winged, very 
smooth-edged, sometimes 2° long and reclin- 
ing, terminating in two or three mostly sub- 
equal branches, often also with one or two lat- 
eral ones; branches slender and wiry, often 
recurved and forming a distinct angle with 
the floral bracts. Leaves narrower, rarely over 
1’ wide, the basal ones usually much shorter 
than the stem; bracts nearly or quite equal, 
narrow, mostly somewhat scarious, often pur- 
plish; flowers slightly smaller; outer surface of 
perianth and young capsule minutely downy; 
capsules 2-7, usually 5, on generally erect pedi- 
cels, 7’’-10’’ long; oval, 1’/’/-2’” long and 3’/— 
114’’ in diameter; seeds oval, subglobose, 14 //- 
44/’ in diameter, dark, faintly pitted or nearly 
smooth. 
_In moist fields. meadows and brackish marshes, often in sandy soil, Newfoundland to Florida, 
mainly near the coast. May-June. 
3. Sisyrinchium angustifdlium Mill. 
Pointed Blue-eyed Grass. (Fig. 1085.) 
S. angustifolium Mill. Gard. Dict. Ed. 7. _ 1759. 
Sisyrinchium anceps Cav. 6: 345. pl. 190. f. 2. 1788. 
S. mucronatum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 33. 1803. 
Pale glaucous green, stems 2-edged, scarcely 2- 
winged, slender, rigid, erect, 3/-14’ tall, simple, or 
very rarely forking into 2 branches above. Leaves 
commonly all basal, rigid and often almost setaceous, 
the edges rough or smooth, %’/-14’’ wide, shorter 
than the stem; bracts very unequal, sometimes pur- 
plish, the lower one usually about twice as long as 
the upper; flowers 6’’-8’’ broad; pedicels erect, about 
8’ long, shorter than the lower bract; capsule sub- 
globose, 2’’-3’ in diameter; seeds large, 14//-3(/% 
long, somewhat obovoid, faintly pitted or nearly 
smooth, brown. 
In fields and meadows, Newfoundland to British Co- 
lumbia, Virginia, Kansas and Colorado. May-Aug. 
Family 26. MARANTACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. 1830. 
ARROWROOT FAMILY. 
Tall herbs, perennial by rootstocks or tubers, or sometimes annual, with 
scapose or leafy stems, mostly large entire long-petioled sheathing leaves, often 
swollen at the base of the blade, the veins pinnate, parallel. Flowers perfect or 
sometimes polygamous, irregular, in panicles, racemes or spikes. Perianth su- 
perior, its segments distinct to the summit of the ovary or united into a tube, 
normally in 2 series of 3, the outer (sepals) usually different from the inner 
(petals). Perfect stamen 1; anthers 1-2-celled. Staminodia mostly 5, often 
petal-like, separate or united by their bases, very irregular. Ovary 1-3-celled, 
inferior; ovule 1 in each cavity, anatropous; style slender, curved, terminal; 
stigma simple. Fruit capsular or berry-like, 1-3-celled. Seed solitary in each 
cavity. Embryo central, in copious endosperm. 
About 12 genera and 160 species, mostly in the tropics, a few in warm-temperate regions, 
