IRIS FAMILY 339 



winged, often branched: flowers small, usually blue or bluish, soon wither- 

 ing, in terminal 2-5-flowered umbels in a 2-leaved spathe; perianth seg- 

 ments spreading, bristle-pointed: stamens 3, monadelphous; style 1 long; 

 stigmas very slender; ovary 3-celled. 



S. angustif olium, Mill. Grassy plants in tufts or clumps: scape 4-12 in., 

 spathe single, sessile: flowers blue to purple, rarely 

 white; petals notched and mucronate. In moist 

 meadows, among grass. Summer. Common. 



4. FREfiSIA. FREESIA. 



Small, cormous plants with flat leaves: flowers 

 white or yellowish, tubular, with a somewhat spread- 

 ing limb, the tube generally curved: stem about 1 ft. 

 high, bearing several erect flowers on a sidewise 

 cluster. Popular florists' plants of easy culture and 



P. rafcffifc, Klatt. Fig. 498. Leaves narrow: ***' ^^ refraota - 

 flower usually somewhat 2-lipped or irregular, white in the most popular 

 forms but yellowish in some, often with blotches of yellow; fragrant. Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



5. GLADIOLUS. GLADIOLUS. 



Tall, erect plants, with flat, strong-veined leaves, the stem arising from 

 a conn (Fig. 54) : flowers in a more or less 1-sided terminal 

 spike, short-tubed, the limb flaring and somewhat unequal: 

 stamens separate (united in some related genera): style 

 long, with 3 large stigmas. 



G. gandavensis, Van Houtte. Fig. 499. Upper seg- 

 ments of the perianth nearly horizontal: colors various and 

 bright: spikes long. Hybrid of two or more species from 

 499. Gladiolus the Cape of Good Hope. Summer and fall. The common 

 gandavensis. gladioli of gardens are greatly hybridized. 



VIII. ORCHIDACE^E. ORCHID FAMILY. 



Perennial herbs, distinguished by singular and extremely irregu- 

 lar perfect flowers, among the most ornamental and interesting of 

 native and exotic plants, curiously adapted, in most cases, to insect 

 pollination; many air-plants (epiphytes) of the tropics and warmer 

 regions also belong to this family. Leaves usually alternate, simple, 

 entire, sheathing: perianth in 6 divisions, adnate to the 1-celled ovary: 

 sepals 3, the outer segments of the perianth usually colored and similar 

 or nearly so, appearing petal-like, the 2 lateral petals generally alike; 

 third petal, the lip (the upper petal and, morphologically, next to 

 axis, but apparently next to bract, by a peculiar twisting of the ovary), 



