IRIS IRIDACEA 635 
SISYRINCHIUM 
slender, terete, naked or with 1 or 2 leaves, 6 inches to 2 feet high, usually 
2-flowered: leaves two to three lines broad, mostly shorter than the stems: 
bracts dilated and scarious, 1-144 inches long, acute or acuminate: flowers 
pale blue, on pedicels }4-2 inches long,: tube of the perianth 3-4 lines long, 
narrowed below: outer segments 2-24 inches long, the inner ones a little 
shorter, all with narrow claws: anthers not exceeding the filaments, equalling 
or exceeding the stigmas: capsule oblong, triangular or subterete, 1-2 inches 
long, acute at each end: seeds obovate, acute at base, 2 lines long. Eastern 
Washington to California and the Rocky Mountains, — 
2 SISYRINCHIUM L. Sp. 954. 
Perennial herbs with short rootstocks, simple or branched 
stems, narrow grass-like leaves and showy flowers in small ter- 
minal clusters on filiform pedicels subtended by a pair of erect 
green bracts. Perianth 6-parted, the segments similar and 
spreading. Stamens 3, the filaments united, at least at base. 
Stigmas filiform, alternate with the stamens, involute. Ovary 
3-celled, with several ovules in each cell. Capsule globose, oval 
or ovoid. Seeds subglobose or ovoid, smooth or pitted. 
* Stems ancipital, usually branched: flowers blue: filaments united 
to the top: anthers short, sagittate: stigmas short. 
S$. bellum Watson Proc. Am. Acad. xii, 277. Stems 6-20 inches 
high, somewhat scabrous on the narrow margins, of a single node, or often 
with 2 or 3 nodes, each node bearing 1-4 peduncles: leaves a line or two 
wide, shorter than the stems: peduncles 2-4 inches long, usually about equal- 
ling the nedal bract: spathes of 2 nearly equal bracts 6-12 lines long, scabrous 
on the keel, 4—7-flowered: segments of the perianth broad-lanceolate, about 
6 lines long, truncate but scarcely emarginate, shortly aristulate, light purple, 
darker below and yellow at base, somewhat pubescent as well as the ovary: 
staminal columi 3 lines long, purplish, pubescent at base,: capsule depressed- 
globose or ovoid,2 -3 lines long; the cells about 10-seeded: seeds irregularly 
and obtusely angled, roughened, 74 of a line in diameter. In wet places, 
Oregon to California. 
S. segetum Bicknell Bull. Torr Bot. Club xxvi, 449. Rather pale 
green and somewhat glaucescent, growing in close tufts: stems erect, slender, 
4-11 inches high, simple: leaves 4-6 inches long, a line or less wide, some- 
times roughish toward the setaceous or aculeate apex: spathes stiffly erect, 
the outer bract very slenderly attenuate, sometimes for fully half its length, 
1-124 inch long, subequal with or surpassing the inner one by 44 or more: 
flowers on very slender subspreading pedicels, deep violet-blue: segments of 
the perianth oblanceolate, obtuse aristulate, 6-7 lines long; capsule oblong 
or obovoid, transversely corrugated, many-seeded: seeds irregularly obovoid, 
less than a line long. On dry grassy plains, Washington and Oregon to 
Nevada. 
S. angustifolium Mill. Gard. Dict. ed 7, 1859. Pale glaucous-green: 
stems slender 4-20 inches high, of a single node, or rarely forked: leaves 
rigid and often almost setaceous, 4-8 inches long, 14-114 lines wide, shorter 
than the stem: spathes stiffly erect, the bracts very unequal, the outer one 
usually about twice as long as the inner: pedicels erect, about 8 lines long, 
shorter than the bracts: segments of the perianth oblanceolate, emarginate, 
6-8 lines long, pale blue: capsule subglobose, 2-3 lines in diameter: seeds 
14-34 line in diameter. On grassy plains, Oregon to Brit. Columbia and 
Virginia. 
