liuS IRIDA.CE./E 63 



beneath: flowers solitary or several together in a small terminal cluster: 

 sepals and petals lanceolate, acuminate, 6-12 lines long, greenish-brown, 

 with brown veins, the lateral sepals wholly united or very nearly so; lip de- 

 pressed-ovate, greenish-yellow with brown or purplish margins, 4-6 lines 

 long: sterile anther oblong, obtuse, equalling the stigma. On dry open 

 hillsides California to Washington. 



ORDER XCIV IRIDACE^ Lindl. Nat. Syst. ed. 2, 328. 



Perennial herbs with equitant sheathing narrow leaves 

 and few showy perfect flowers subtended by spathaceous bracts. 

 Perianth of 6 segments or 6-lobed, its tube adnate to the ovary, 

 the segments or lobes in 2 series, convolute in the bud, withering- 

 persistent. Stamens 3, inserted on the base of the 3 outer seg- 

 ments or lobes of the perianth : filaments filiform, distinct or uni- 

 ted: anthers 2-celled, extrorse. Style 3 cleft, its branches some- 

 times divided. Ovary inferior, mostly 3-celled, with numerous 

 or few anatropous ovules in each cell becoming a 3-celled, 

 loculicidally dehiscent capsule. Embryo straight in fleshy or 

 horny albumen. 



1 Iris Outer segments of the perianth recurved; the inner erect: 



branches of the style petal-like, opposite to the anthers: filaments 

 distinct : seeds flattened. 



2 Sisyrinchium Segments of the perianth similar, spreading : branches 



of the style filiform alternate with the anthers : filaments united : 

 seeds globular. 



1 IRIS L. Sp. 38. 



Herbs with creeping or horizontal, often woody and sometimes 

 tuber bearing, rootstocks, erect or ascending stems, ensiform or 

 linear leaves and large flowers in terminal racemes. Perianth of 

 6 clawed segments united below into a tube, the 3 outer dilated, 

 spreading or reflexed ; the 3 inner usually narrower and erect. 

 Stamens inserted at the base of the outer segments of the perianth, 

 distinct: anthers oblong or linear. Style 3-parted, its base ad- 

 nate to the tube of the perianth, its branches thin and petal-like, 

 resting upon the outer segments of the perianth and covering the 

 stamens, stigmatic at the thin apex, above which is a broad 

 2-parted crest. Ovules numerous, in 2 rows in each cell. Seeds 

 horizontal, flattened, or more or less turgid. 



* Stems leafy: leaves linear: bracts of the spathe closely approximate, 

 foliaceous: tube of the perianth narrow, more or less elongated. 



I. chrysophylla. Stems low and very slender, 2-8 inches high, from 

 sender rootstocks: radical leaves linear, 6-18 inches long by 2-3 lines wide, 

 litrht green, finely striate, thick and persistent for at least one winter: bracts 

 lanceolate, long-acuminate, contiguous, 2-4 inches long: flowers 1-3, sessile 

 or nearly so, yellow to white, with blue veins: perianth with filiform tube 

 2-3 inches long; outer segments 2-3 inches long, with long claw and broadly 

 lanceolate blade, inner ones spatulate: filaments flat, bearded at base: capsule 

 oblong or broader, nearly an inch long: seeds slightly compressed. In Pine 

 woods, southern Oregon. 



