297 



1. IRiS. FLEUR-DE-LIS. FLAG. 



Mostly strong plants, with rhizomes or tubers : flowers mostly large and 

 showy, the three outer segments recurving and the three inner ones usually 

 smaller and more erect or sometimes incurving: the three long divisions ^f 

 the style petal-like and often more or less hairy, covering the stamens: 

 stigma on the under side of the style : leaves long and sword-shaped. Several 

 wild and many cultivated species. The following species have rhizomes. 



a. Flowers yellow. 



I. Pseudacorus, Linn. Common yellow flag. One to 3 ft., with several- 

 flowered, often branching stamens : outer divisions of the perianth with no 

 hairs or crests : flowers bright yellow. Europe. 



aa. Flowers in shades of blue (sometimes varying to white). 

 I. versicolor, Linn. Common wild blue flag. Two to 3 ft., stout: leaves 

 %-in. wide, flat: flowers about 3 in. long, short-stalked, violet-blue, the tube 

 shorter than the ovary, the inner petals small 

 and the outer ones with no hairs. Swamps. 



I. laevigata, Fisch. & Mey. (/. Kcempferi, 

 Sieb.). Japan iris. Two to 3 feet, the stem 

 much overtopping the thin, broad leaves : flowers 



437. Iris Germanica. 



438. Crocus veruus. 



439. Freesia refracta. 



large (sometimes several inches across), flat, the inner lobes spreading, the 

 outer ones very large and rounded, with no hairs or crests : color mostly in 

 shades of blue and purple. Japan; now one of the choicest of garden irises. 

 I. Germanica, Linn. Common blue flag of gardens ( sometimes runs wild ) . 

 Fig. 437. Two to 3 feet, with long sword-shaped leaves: flowers few or 

 several to each stem, about 3 to 4 in. across, the drooping outer segments 

 with yellow hairs, the inner segments erect and arching inwards. Europe. 



2. CKOCUS. CROCUS. 



Small, stemless plants, the long-tubed flowers and the grass-like leaves 

 arising directly from the coated corm: flowers with the 6 obovate divisions 

 all alike and erect-spreading or the inner ones a little the smaller, opening 

 only in sunshine. The following, from Europe, blooms in earliest spring, 



C. v6rnus, Linn. Common crocus. Fig. 438. Leaves 2-4 to each flower, 

 glaucous on the under side : flower rising little above the ground ; color in 

 shades of lilac and variously striped, sometimes white. 



