IRIDACEAE 



323 



fingers, wets the ends with saliva and ' ' twists them into a beautiful cord on her bare thigh. ' ' 

 Brooms are also made of the fibres. The flowers are boiled, dried for storing, and then boiled 

 again when eaten. Cf. Barrows, Ethno-Bot. Coahuilla Ind. 47, 54, 58, 66. 



Locs. Palm Canon, Mt. San Jacrnto, Jepson 1356; Mason Valley, e. San Diego Co., 

 Jepson 8710. 



Eefs. AGAVE CONSOCIATA Trel. Eep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 22:53 (1911), type loc. San Felipe, 

 Parish 413. A. deserti mostly of Cal. authors. 



3. A. deserti Engelm. Similar to A. consociata, the plants forming rather 

 open and more or less circular colonies 5 to 15 feet broad ; scapes stout, 10 to 16 

 feet high ; leaves whitish-green, 10 to 15 inches long ; inflorescence large, dense ; 

 capsules 1 to IVs inches long, light brown, rounded at apex. 



San Felipe region, eastern San Diego Co. 



Loc. Mason Valley, Jepson 8711. 



Eefs. AGAVE DESERTI Engelm. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 3:310 (1875), based on spms. 

 from the region of San Felipe, Hitchcock, Palmer; Trel. Eep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 22:52, pis. 41, 

 42 (1911). 



4. A. shawii Engelm. Trunk 8 to 12 inches high, regularly leafy, the 

 flowering stem 8 to 12 feet high ; leaves green, glossy, ovate or lanceolate-ovate, 

 acuminate, 8 to 20 inches long, margined with garnet-red hooked prickles ; clusters 

 of the panicle congested ; flowers greenish-yellow, 3i/> to 4y 2 inches long ; perianth 

 lobes 8 to 10 lines long, the free portion of the tube 7 to 9 lines long. 



Southwestern San Diego Co. near the coast at the boundary, thence into 

 Lower California. 



Loe. San Diego, W. 8. Wright 113. 



Eefs. AGAVE SHAWII Engelm. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 3:315 (1875), type loc. first 

 boundary monument near San Diego, Parry; Mulford, Eep. Mo. Bot. Gard. 7:83, pis. 44-47 

 (1896). 



IRIDACEAE. IRIS FAMILY 



Perennial herbs, ours low, glabrous, with stout stems and 2-ranked sword-like 

 and sheathing leaves. Inflorescence terminal. Flowers perfect, with petal-like 

 perianth of 6 divisions in 2 whorls. Stamens 3, on the base of the outer whorl, 

 with extrorse anthers. Ovary inferior, 3-lobed, becoming a 3-celled capsule. Style 

 3-cleft or rarely entire ; stigmas 3. About 57 genera and 1000 species, mostly 

 temperate and tropic zones. 



Bibliog. Baker, J. G., Handbook of the Irideae (1892). Hansen, J. G., Iris hartwegii 

 (Gard. & For. 10:95-96, 1897). Bieknell, E. P., Studies in Sisyrinchium. S. californieum 

 and Belated Species of the Neglected Genus Hydastylus (Bull. Torr. Club 27:373-387, 1900) ; 

 The Species of California (I.e. 31:379-391, 1904). Dykes, W. E., The Genus Iris, pis. 1^7 



(1913). 



. 



Stems terete; divisions of the perianth in two unlike whorls 1. IRIS. 



Stems 2-edged or -winged; divisions of the perianth alike 2. SISYRINCHIUM. 



1. IRIS L. FLAG 



Stems terete, from creeping stout rootstocks. Flowers in the axils of spatha- 

 ceous bracts. Perianth-tube prolonged beyond the ovary; outer segments or 

 sepals obovate above the claw, spreading or recurved ; inner segments or petals 

 narrower, erect. Style divided into 3 petal-like branches, each branch with 2 

 lobes or appendages at summit; stigma a small projecting shelf (stigmatic only 

 on the upper surface) situated on the lower surface of the branch just below the 

 lobes or appendages. Stamens with linear anthers lying close beneath the 

 branches of the style, i.e., opposite them. Capsule oblong, 3-angled. Seeds 

 flattened or turgid, in 2 rows in each cell. Species about 100, all continents but 

 mostly north temperate zone. (Greek iris, the rainbow, the Greek species of the 

 genus being celebrated for its brilliant colors.) 



Eootstock i/o inch thick or more ; dying leaves gray or yellow-brown ; seeds globular or pyrif orm. 

 Plant sturdy; mature leaves as long or longer than stem, 4 to 6 lines wide..l. I. longipetala. 

 Plant slender; leases shorter than stem, 2 to 4 lines wide 2. /. missouriensis. 



