From Blue to Purple 



South Carolina and Florida to Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas one 

 finds this iris blooming in the swamps during April and May. 



The Slender Blue Flag (/. prismatica) (A ^irginica of Gray), 

 found growing from New Brunswick to North Carolina, but mainly 

 near the coast, and often in the same oozy ground with the larger 

 blue flag, may be known by its grass-like leaves, two or three of 

 which usually branch out from the slender flexuous stem ; by its 

 solitary or two blue flowers, variegated with white and veined 

 with yellow, that rear themselves on slender foot-stems ; and by 

 the sharply three-angled, narrow, oblong capsule, in which but 

 one row of seeds is borne in each cavity. This is the most 

 graceful member of a rather stiffly stately family. 



Pointed Blue-eyed Grass; Eye-bright; Blue 



Star 



{Sisyrinchium angustifolium) Iris family 



Flowers — From blue to purple, with a yellow centre ; a Western 

 variety, white ; usually several buds at the end of stem, 

 between 2 erect unequal bracts; about Y^ in. across; perianth 

 of 6 spreading divisions, each pointed with a bristle from a 

 notch ; stamens 3, the filaments united to above the middle ; 

 pistil I, its tip 3-cleft. Stem: 3 to 14 in. tall, pale hoary 

 green, flat, rigid, 2-edged. Leaves: Grass-like, pale, rigid, 

 mostly from base. Fruit : 3-celled capsule, nearly globose. 



Preferred Habiiat — Moist fields and meadows. 



FIo7vering Season — May — August. 



Distribution — Newfoundland to British Columbia, from eastern slope 

 of Rocky Mountains to Atlantic, south to Virginia and Kansas. 



Only for a day, and that must be a bright one, will this " little 

 sister of the stately blue flag " open its eyes, to close them in in- 

 dignation on being picked ; nor will any coaxing but the sun- 

 shine's induce it to open them again in water, immediately after. 

 The dainty flower, growing in dense tufts, makes up in numbers 

 what it lacks in size and lasting power, flecking our meadows 

 with purplish ultramarine blue in a sunny June morning. Later 

 in the day, apparently there are no blossoms there, for all are 

 tightly closed, never to bloom again. New buds will unfold to 

 tinge the field on the morrow. 



Usually three buds nod from between a pair of bracts, the 

 lower one of which may be twice the length of the upper one ; 

 but only one flower opens at a time. Slight variations in this 

 plant have been considered sufficient to differentiate several species 

 formerly included by Gray and other American botanists under 

 the name of S. Bermudiana. 



