W100 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN IRIS 



I'ris missourien'sis 



Flowers large, showy, pale blue or 

 mrplish with darker veins, variegated, 

 'rom 2 papery, dilated, rarely separated 



bracts, each flower on a stalk up to 2 in. 



long 



Outer Mower parts (sepals) 3, colored, 

 petal-like, broad, dilated, spreading or 

 bent back, long-clawed, up to 2J in. 

 long 



Petals 3, ascending, narrower than 

 sepals, up to 2 in. long, alternating with 

 sepals and united with them below to 

 form the perianth tube 



Appendages (styles) at tip of seed- 

 producing organ, colored, petal-like, 

 3-cleft at apex, opposite to and arching 

 over the 3 stamens, almost completely 

 united at base with perianth tube 



Seed pod (capsule) below perianth 

 tube, oblong, 2% in. long and ** in. wide, 

 many-seeded, 3-cclled, 6-riclged, split- 

 ting down from the top along the middle 

 back of each cell 



Stems 6 to 40 in. high, leafless or 

 nearly so, usually 2-flowcrod, slender, 

 round 



Leaves mostly basal, 2-ranked, shorter 

 than the stems, flat, sword-shaped, 

 about !; in. wide, with parallel veins 



Roots thickened, fibrous, perennial, 

 from stout, underground, dark-fibrous- 

 coated rootstocks 



