334 ..^, IRIS FAMILY. 



* * Taller : the several-flowered often branching stems 1 ° - 3° high : tube of the 



flower short : the outer divisions naked, beardless, and all but one crestless ; 

 the inner very much smaller : fl. late spring and early summer, in swamps. 



I. Virginica, Slender Blue Flag. Slender ; with very narrow linear 

 leaves, and blue flowers with some white (barely 2' long), on slender peduncles, 

 with hardly any tube beyond the 3-angled ovary. 



I. versicolor, Larger Blue-Flag. Stout ; stem angled on one side ; 

 leaves sword-shaped, |' wide; flowers light blue variegated with some yellow, 

 white, and purple, hardly 3' long, the inflated tube shorter than the obtusely 

 3-angled ovary ; pod oblong, 3-angled. 



I. hex^gona. Only S. near the coast ; with simple stem, narrowish long 

 leaves, and deep blue variegated flowers 4' long, the outer divisions crested, the 

 tube longer than the 6-angled ovary. 



I. ctiprea. Only S. and W. ; with copperish-yellow flowers 2' long, the 

 tube about the length of the 6-angled ovary. 



I. trip6tala. Only S. in pine-barren swamps ; with rather short sword- 

 shaped glaucous leaves, and few blue floAvers (2' -3' long), variegated with 

 yellow and purple, the inner divisions very short and wedge-shaped, the 

 tube shorter than the 3-angled ovary. 



§ 2. Garden species from the Old World, cult, for ornament. 



* A dense beard along the lower part of the 3 outer divisions of the flower: the 



stamens in all spring from thickened rootstocks. 



•1- Dwarf: flowering in early spring. 



I. ptlinila, t)wARF Garden Iris. Stem very short ; the violet and pur- 

 ple flower close to the ground, with slender tube and obovate divisions, hardly 

 exceeding the short sword-shaped leaves, 



-t- -f- Taller and larger, sever al-floxvered, in early summer. 



I. Qerm^nica, Common Flower-de-Luce of the gardens, with very 

 large scentless flowers, the deep violet pendent outer divisions 3' long, the obo- 

 vate inner ones nearly as large, lighter and bluer. 



I. sambticina, Elder-scented F., is taller, 3° or 4"=' high, and longer- 

 leaved ; the flowers about half as large as in the preceding, the outer divisions 

 less reflexed, violet, but whitish and yellowish toward the base, painted with 

 deeper-colored lines or veins ; upper divisions pale grayish or brownish blue ; 

 spathe broadly scarious-margined. 



I. squilens, very like preceding, with longer dull violet outer divisions to 

 the flower whitish and striped at base, and purplish-bufl^-colored inner divisions. 



I. varieg^ta, has much smaller flowers, with spatulate-obovate divisions 

 2' long, white with pale yellow, the outer divisions veined with dark-purple and 

 purplish-tinged in the middle. 



I. Florentlna, Florence or Sweet F. Less tall than the Common F., 

 with broader leaves, and white faintly sweet-scented flowers, bluish veined, the 

 obovate outer divisions 2|^'-3' long, with yellow beard. Its violet-scented root- 

 stock yields orris-root. 



* * No beard nor crest to the flower : all but the last loith rootstocks. 



I. Pseud^corus, Yellow Iris, of wet marshes in Europe, with very long 

 linear leaves and bright yellow flowers, sparingly cultivated. 



I. gramlnea, Grass-Leaved I., has narrow linear root-leaves 2° -3° 

 long and often suqiassing the 1-3-flowered stem; flower purple-blue, with 

 narrow divisions. 



I. P6rsiea, Persian Iris. A choice house-plant, dwarf, nearly gtemless 

 from a kind of bulb-like tuber, from which the flower rises on a long tube, 

 earlier than the leaves, delicately fragrant, bluish, with a deep-purple spot at 

 the tip of the outer divisions, the inner divisions very small and spreading. 



2. PARDANTHUS, BLACKBERRY LILY. (Name from the Greek, 

 means pard-flower, alluding to the spotted perianth.) Fl. late summer. 



Pard^nthus Chin^nsis, from China, cult, in country gardens and 

 escaping into roadsides: 3° -4° high, more branching than an Iris; the di- 

 visions of the orange-colored flower (1' long) mottled above with crimson spots, 



