IRIDACE.E. (iKIS FAMILY.) 459 



Order 123. IRIDACE^. (Iris Family.) 



Herbs, with equitant 2-ranked leaves, and regular or irregular perfect flow- 

 ers ; the divisions of the G-cleft petal-like perianth convolute in the bud in 2 

 sets, the lube coherent unth the 3-celled ovary, and 3 distinct or monadelphous 

 stamens with extrorse anthers. — Flowers from a 2-leaved spatke, usually 

 showy and ephemeral. Style single : stigmas 3, opposite with the cells of 

 the ovary. Pod 3-celled, loculicidal, many-seeded. Seeds anatropous: 

 embryo straight in fleshy albumen. Rootstocks, tubers, &c. mostly acrid. 

 — A rather small family, here represented by only two genera. 



1. IRIS, L. Flower-de-Luce. 



Perianth 6-cleft ; the 3 outer divisions spreading or reflexed ; the 3 inner 

 smaller and erect. Stamens distinct, placed before the outer divisions of the 

 perianth, and under the 3 petal-like stigmas. Pod 3 - 6-angled. Seeds de- 

 pressed-flattened. — Perennials with creeping and often tuberous rootstocks, 

 sword-shaped or grassy leaves, and large showy flowers. (Ipts, the rainbow 

 deified, anciently applied to this genus on account of the bright and varied 

 colors of the blossoms.) See Addend. 



# Stems leafy (1° -3° high), often branching: rootstocks thick : flowers crestless, the 

 inner divisions (petals) much smaller than the outer. 



1. I. versicolor, L. (Larger Blue Flag.) Stem stout, angled on 

 one side; leaves sword-shaped (%' wide) ; ovary obtusely triangular with the sides 

 flat; pod oblong, turgid, with rounded angles. — Wet places; common. May, 

 June. — Flowers bine, variegated with green, yellow and white at the base, and 

 veined with purple. 



2. 1, Virginiea, L. (Slender Blue Flag.) Stem very slender, 

 terete; leaves narrowly linear (\' wide); ovary 3-angled, and each side deeply 

 2-grooved ; pod triangular, acute at both ends. (I. prismatica, Pursh. I. gra- 

 cilis, Bigel.) — Marshes, Maine to Virginia, and southward, near the coast. 

 June. — Flower much smaller than in the last. 



** Low, almost stemless, 1 - 3-floiuered : divisions of the light blue-purple perianth 

 nearly equal : rootstocks slender, and here and there tuberous-thickened, creeping and 

 tuficd. 



3. I. v£a'3*», L. (Dwarf Iris.) Leaves linear, grass-like, rather glau- 

 cous, the thread-like tube of the perianth about the length of the divisions, which 

 are all beardless and crestless; pod triangular. — Wooded hill-sides, Virginia, 

 Kentucky, and southward. April. 



4. I. cristata, Ait. (Crested Dwarf Iris.) Leaves lanceolate (3'— 

 5' long when grown) ; those of the spathe ovate-lanceolate, shorter than the 

 thread-like tube of the peiianth, which is 2' long and considerably exceeds the divis- 

 ions ; the outer ones crested, but beardless ; pod sharply triangular. — Mountains 

 of Virginia, Kentucky, and southward. May. 



5. f. laciistris, Nutt. (Lake Dwarf Iris.) Tube of the perianth rather 



shorter than the divisions (yellowish, ^'- |' long), dilated upwards, not exceeding 



