IRIS FAMILY. 333 



■ § 2. Perianth parted almost to the base into 6 nearly equal widely spreading divisions: 

 stamens separate or nearly so : style 3 - &-lobed. 



2. PARDANTHUS. Foliage and aspect of an Iris with leafy branching stem, 



from a rootstock. Divisions of the flower oblong with a narrow base. Fila- 

 ments slender, much longer than the anthers. Style long, club-shaped, its 

 simple branches tipped with a broad and blunt stigma. Pod pear-shaped; 

 the valves falling away expose the centre covered with black berry-like 

 seeds. 



3. NEMASTYLIS. Stem simple or sparingly branching above, from a solid bulb 



like that of a Crocus. Divisions of the flower obovate. Filaments awl- 

 shaped, much shorter than the linear anthers. Style short, its 3 lobes parted 

 each into two, bearing long and thread-like diverging stigmas. Pod truncate. 

 Seeds dry, angular. 



§ 3. Perianth deeply cleft or parted into 6 widely spreading divisions : stamens mon- 

 adelphous to the top : style long: stigmas 3 or 6, thread-like : jiowers opening 

 in sunshine and but once for a few hours. 

 4". SISYRINCHIUM. Root mostly fibrous: leaves grass-like. Divisions of the 

 wheel-shaped flower all alike. Stigmas 3, simple. 



5. TIGRIDIA. From a solid bulb with some hard brittle coating. Leaves lance- 



olate, large, very much plaited. Three outer divisions of the perianth very 

 large and with "a concave base; the other 3 very much smaller and fiddle- 

 shaped. Stigmas 3, each 2-cleft. 



§ 4. Perianth tubular at base, the 6 divisions all more or less spreading: stamens sepa- 

 rate: style long : stigmas 3, more or less dilated: Jiowers lasting for several 

 days. Plants from solid bulbs or coi'ms. (Lessons, p. 45, fig. 71, 72.) 



6. GLADIOLUS. Flowers numerous in a spike, on a rather tall leafy stem 



remaining open, irregular, the short-funnel-shaped tube being somewhat 

 curved, and the divisions more or less unequal, the flower commonly oblique 

 or as if somewhat 2-lipped. Stamens (inserted on the tube,) and style as- 

 cending. Leaves sword-shaped, strongly nerved. 



7. CROCUS. Flowers and narrow linear leaves rising from the bulb, the ovary 



and pod seldom raised above ground : perianth with a long and slender tube ; 

 its oval or roundish divisions alike, or the 3 inner rather smaller, concave, 

 fully spreading only in sunshine. Leaves with revolute margins. 



There are besides many tender plants of the family in choice collections, the 

 greater part confined to the conservatories, — mostly belonging to 



Ixia macul^ta, of Cape of Good Hope, and others, once of that genus, 

 now called SpaeIxis, Watsonia, &c. ; also to MontbrIitia or Trit6nia, &c. 



Schiz6stylis COCCinea, from South Africa, lately introduced : not very 

 tender, with long and keeled linear leaves, and stems 3° high, bearing a spike 

 of bright crimson-red flowers 2' across, the ovate acute lobes all alike and widely 

 spreading from a narrow tube ; the slender style deeply cleft (whence the name) 

 into 3 thread-like branches. 



Moreea iridoides, of the Cape ; very like an Iris, as the specific name 

 denotes ; but the 6 divisions of the perianth all nearly alike and widely spread- 

 ing, white with a yellow spot on the 3 outer ones. 



1. IBIS, Flower-de-luce, Blue Flag. (Greek and Latin mythological 

 name, and name of the rainbow. ) Fl. spring and early summer. 



§ 1. Wild species of the country, all with creeping rootstocks. 

 » Dwarf, with simple very short stems {or only leaf}/ tufts), 1 -3-Jlowered in early 

 spring, from creeping and branching slender rootstocks, here and there tuber- 

 ous-thickened : flowers violet-blue, with a long slender tube, and no beard. 



I. v6rna, Slender Dwarf-Iris. Wooded hillsides, from Virginia and 

 Kentucky S. ; with linear grassy leaves, tube of flower about the length of its 

 almost equal divisions, which are on slender orange-yellow claws, the outer ones 

 crestless. 



I. cristkta, Crested D. Along the Alleghanies, &c., sometimes cult. ; 

 with lanceolate leaves, or the upper ovate-lanceolate, tube of flower (2' long) 

 much longer than the scarcely stalked divisions, the outer ones crested ; pod 

 sharply triangular. 



