514 1RIDACE.E. (IRIS FAMILY.) 



than the ovary ; capsule oblong, turgid, with rounded angles. Wet places, 

 Newf. to Fla., west to Minn, and Ark. May, June. 



2. I. prismatica, Pursh. (SLENDER BLUE FLAG.) Stem very slender, 

 terete; leans narrou-ly linear (2-3" wide); flowers slender-peduncled (H-2' 

 long), the tube extremely short ; ovary 3-angled, each side 2-grooved ; capsule 

 sharply triangular. (I. Virginica, Man.; not L.) Marshes near the coast, 

 Maine to N. C. June. 



I. CAROLINIANA, Watson, resembling n. 1, but with longer laxer and 

 greener leaves, and the very large seeds in one row in each cell, probably 

 occurs in S. Va. 



t- -t- Flou-ers copper-colored or dull reddish-brown ; petals widely spreading. 



3. I. flilva, Ker. Stem and leaves as n. 1 ; tube of the perianth cylindri- 

 cal, as long as the 6-angled ovary; style-branches narrow. (I. cuprea, Pursh.) 

 Swamps, S. 111. and Mo. to La. and Ga. May. 



* * Stems low (3-6' high), from tufted and creeping slender (or here and there 

 tuberous-thickened) rootstocks, 1 - 3-ftowered ; tube of the perianth long and 

 slender ; the violet-blue divisions nearly equal. 



4. I. verna, 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 oblong-obovate and on slender claws, the outer ones slightly hairy 

 down the orange-yellow base, crestless ; capsule obtusely triangular. Wooded 

 hillsides, Lancaster Co., Penn., to S. C., west to Ky. and Ala. April. Flow- 

 ers sometimes white with yellowish centre. 



5. 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 perianth, which is 2' long and much longer than the light blue 

 obovate short-clawed divisions, the outer ones crested but beardless ; capsule 

 sharply triangular. In the mountains from Md. to N. C. ; Trumbull Co., 

 Ohio (fngnihaiit) ; knobs of S. Ind. May. Flowers fragrant. 



6. I. lacustris, Nutt. (LAKE DWARF IRIS.) Tube of the perianth rather 

 shorter than the divisions (yellowish, \- f long), dilated upward, not exceeding 

 the spathe; otherwise as in the last, and too near it. Gravelly shores of 

 Lakes Huron and Michigan. May. 



I. PsEUoAcoRUS, L., the YELLOW IRIS of European marshes, with very 

 long linear leaves and bright yellow beardless flowers, is reported as having 

 become established in Mass, and N. Y. 



2. NEMASTYLIS, Nutt. 



Perianth spreading, the segments similar and nearly equal. Filaments more 

 or less united into a tube. Style short, its slender 2-parted branches alternate 

 with the anthers and exserted between them ; stigmas minute, terminal. Cap- 

 sule oblong or ovate, truncate, dehiscent at the summit. Seeds globose or 

 angled. Stems terete, from coated bulbs, with few plicate leaves, and few 

 fugacious flowers from 2-bracted spathes. (Name from vrJua, a thread, and 

 ffrv\is, sti/le, for the slender style-branches.) 



1 . N. geminiflora, Nutt. Stem 1 - 2 high ; spathes 2-flowered ; peri- 

 anth pale blue-purple, 1-2' broad, the divisions oblong-obovate ; capsule ob- 

 ovate, y long. E. Kan. to Tex. 



