MONOCOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 45 
12. IRIDACEZ. Iris Famity. 
Perennial herbs from bulbs, corms, or rootstocks. Leaves 
2-ranked, equitant. Flowers perfect, regular or irregular, each 
subtended by two bracts. Perianth 6-parted, the tube adher- 
ent to the ovary, the segments in 2 series of 3 each, equal, or 
the inner ones smaller. Stamens 3, distinct or united, oppo- 
site the outer segments. Ovary forming a 3-celled, 3-angled, 
3-valved, many-seeded, dehiscent capsule.* 
I. CROCUS, L. Crocus. 
Leaves radical. Flowers sessile on the corm. Tube of the 
perianth very long and slender, its divisions all alike or 
nearly so. Stigmas 3-cleft. 
1. C. vernus. Sprinc Crocus. Leaves linear. Stigmas short. 
Flowers white, blue, or purple. Our earliest garden flower. Culti- 
vated from Europe. 
II. IRIS, Tourn. 
Rootstock thick, creeping, branching, horizontal, sometimes 
tuberous. Stems erect, simple, or branched. Leaves linear or 
sword-shaped. Flowers showy, epigynous, the outer perianth 
segments spreading or recurved, often bearded within, the 
inner segments usually smaller and erect. Stamens inserted 
in the base of the outer segments. Style deeply 3-parted, the 
divisions broad and petal-like, covering the stamens. Fruit 
an oblong or oval, 3 or 6 angled, many-seeded capsule.* 
1. I. versicolor, L. LAarGeE Biur FxiaG. Rootstock thick, hori- 
zontal. Stem cylindrical, smooth, simple or branched, leafy, 2-3 ft. 
high. Leaves linear, sword-shaped, finely nerved, with a bloom, the 
lower 13-2 ft. long, the upper shorter. Bracts longer than the 
pedicels. Flowers terminal, single, or few together, blue variegated 
with white, yellow, and purple, perianth segments not bearded, 
the inner ones smaller. Ovary 3-angled, longer than the inflated 
perianth tube. Capsule oblong, slightly lobed, seeds 2 rows in each 
cell. In wet places.* 
2. I. germanica, L. FLEurR-pE-L1is. MRootstock thick, matted. 
Stem stout, branched, leafy, 2-3 ft. high. Leaves strap-shaped, 
