298 IXIACEAE 



curved : spathes 14-19 mm. long, sometimes slightly purplish : bracts firm-herbaceous, 

 conspicuously hyaline-margined, nearly equal, somewhat keeled, acuminate : interior scales 

 exserted at maturity : flowers 8-12 together: perianth violet-blue, 12 mm. long or more : 

 capsules 4-6 mm. high, on spreading or recurved pedicels : seeds rugulose, becoming fully 

 1 mm. in diameter. 



In dry sandy soil, peninsular Florida. Early spring. 



14. Sisyrinchium fuscktum Bicknell. Plants thinly tufted, rather stiff, 15-50 cm. 

 high, more or less fibrose at base, dull green and glaucescent, drying dark. Leaves firmly 

 erect, becoming flexuous, long and slender ; blades 0.5-2.5 mm. wide, close striate, the 

 edges smooth or roughened : scapes straight and slender, longer than the leaves, 0.75-2 

 mm. wide, narrowly winged : bracteal leaf narrow, erect, shorter than the peduncles : pe- 

 duncles 2, approximate, subterete, short and erect, 2-6 cm. long: spathes narrow, 1.5-1.8 

 cm. long, the subequal bracts firmly herbaceous, striate, cuspidate-acuminate : interior 

 scales much shorter than the bracts : flowers blue, on erect exserted pedicels : perianth 

 about 10 mm. long, the narrow sepals and petals prominently veined : capsules 2.5-4 mm. 

 high, broadly subglobose, drying dark. 



In sandy soil, western Florida to Mississippi. Spring. 



15. Sisyrinchium mcrustetum Bicknell. Plants thinly tufted, 2.5-5 dm. tall, 

 coarsely fibrose at the base, dull green and glaucescent, drying dark. Leaves erect ; blades 

 1.5-3.5 mm. wide, aculeate-tipped, rather thin but firm, striate, harshly rugulose-sca- 

 brous to densely incrustate-roughened with pale papillae, the edges ciliolate-serrulate : 

 scapes often sinuously curved, 1.5-3 mm. wide, roughened like the leaves ; nodes 1-2, the 

 lower one bearing an often much elongated bracteal leaf and 2-3 peduncles, the upper one 

 terminating an outcurved prolongation of the scape 4-9 cm. long, with a shorter bracteal 

 leaf and peduncle : spathes 1.5-2.5 cm. long, the nearly equal bracts acute to slenderly at- 

 tenuate : interior scales shorter than the bracts : perianth violet-blue, about 8 mm. long : 

 capsules subglobose, dark, 3-4 mm. in diameter, on slightly exserted nearly erect pedicels : 

 seeds finely pitted, 1-1.5 mm. in diameter. 



In moist sandy soil or open grassy woods, North Carolina. Summer. 



16. Sisyrinchmm rufipes Bicknell. Plants thinly tufted, often very slender, 1.5-3 

 dm. tall, with rufous or brown fibers at the base, rather bright green and glaucescent, 

 partly turning a dull brownish green. Leaves becoming flexuous ; blades 1-2.5 mm. wide, 

 often granular-scabrous between the close nerves, the margins finely sharp-serrulate : scapes 

 about as tall as the leaves, slender and often flexuous, about 1 mm. wide, narrowly mar- 

 gined, the edges closely ciliolate-serrulate, bearing an erect slender bracteal leaf subtend- 

 ing a cluster of 2-3 short-peduncled or merely stipitate spathes and sometimes also a short 

 branch : spathes about 1 2 mm. long, the bracts somewhat divergent : flowers 2-5, on hair- 

 like flexuous pedicels : perianth blue, about 8 mm. long : anthers relatively large : cap- 

 sules about 3 mm. high. 



On sand hills, North Carolina to Georgia. Early spring. 



17. Sisyrinchium fibrosum Bicknell. Plants loosely tufted, 2-3 dm. tall, fibrous- 

 coated at the base, pale and glaucescent, often yellowish green. Leaves firm ; blades some- 

 what striate-nerved, mostly 2-3 mm. wide, or some of them even 5 mm. wide, the edges 

 usually serrulate : scapes longer than the leaves, 2-3 mm. wide, broadly winged, the edges 

 mostly serrulate or even ciliolate; nodes 1-2, each furnished with a foliaceous bracteal leaf 

 w r hich subtends 2 or 3 more or less diverging peduncles : peduncles 4-8 cm. long : spathes 

 15-20 mm. long, the bracts nearly equal, varying from herbaceous attenuate to scarious-obtuse 

 and mucronulate : interior scales about J the length of the bracts : flowers on delicate loosely 

 erect slightly exserted pedicels : perianth pale violet-blue, 8-10 mm. long : staminal column 

 4-5 mm. high : capsules pale and thick-walled, broadly ovoid, 3-4 mm. high : seeds rugu- 

 lose, 1 mm. in diameter. [ Co.rolinianum Bicknell, not Klatt.] 



In woods or fields, North Carolina to Florida and Mississippi. Spring. 



18. Sisyrinchmm tdrtum Bicknell. Plants thinly tufted, 1.5-3 dm. tall, pale and 

 glaucous, coarsely fibrous at the base. Leaves erect, the longer ones nearly equalling the 

 scapes; blades firm, 1.5-3 mm. wide, finally close-striate, faintly vermiculate-rugulose be- 

 tween the nerves, the edges smooth or obscurely roughened : scapes usually one to four 

 times spirally twisted, as wide as the leaf-blades, wing-flattened, usually with but one node : 

 bracteal leaf short, broad-based, equalling the 2 peduncles or shorter : spathes 10-16 mm. 

 long, usually abruptly broader and thicker than the peduncles, becoming 3 mm. wide, 

 the bracts nearly equal, rather thin and membranous : interior scales shorter than the bracts : 

 flowers on loosely erect finally exserted pedicels : perianth pale blue, 8-10 mm. long : 

 staminal column short, 2-4 mm. high. 



In sandy soil, Florida and Mississippi. Early spring. 



