176 IRIDACEAE 



vate; filaments shorter than the style; fruit 7-8 mm. thick. Sisyrinchium 

 grandiflorum Dougl. Wet meadows: B.C. — -Ida. — Utah — Calif. Son. — Submont, 



' 2. IRIS L. Blue Flag, Fleur-de-lis. 



Herbs, with creeping, horizontal rootstocks. Leaves sword-shaped or linear. 

 Flowers solitary or in terminal panicles. Sepals and petals highly colored, in 

 ours blue, the former spreading or recurved, the latter usually smaller and erect. 

 Stamens 3; filaments adnate below to the base of the sepals. Ovary 3-celled; 

 styles petal-like, arching over the stamens; stigmas under the usually 3-lobed 

 tips. Ovules numerous. Capsule elongated, 3- or 6-angled. Seeds in 1 or 2 

 rows, vertical!}' flattened. 



1. I. missouriensis Nutt. Stem 2-10 dm. high, about 5 mm. in diameter; 

 leaves 1-5 dm. long, 5-10 mm. broad; perianth pale blue, variegated, glabrous, 

 crestless; sepals broadly oblanceolate, about 8 cm. long; petals oblanceolate, 

 ascending, about 6 cm. long; capsule oblong-elliptic, about 4 cm. long and 1.5 

 cm. thick, 6-ridged. I. pelogonus Goodding. Meadows, marshes and along 

 streams: N.D.—N.M.— Calif.— B.C. Plain— Mont. My-Jl. 



Family 29. ORCHIDACEAE. Orchis Family. ■ 



Perennial herbs, usuallj^ succulent, with corms, bulbs, or rootstocks, and 

 tuberous or fibrous roots. Flowers perfect, irregular. Sepals 3, similar or 

 nearly so, the lower two sometimes united. Petals 3; the two lateral ones 

 similar; the median one (the lip) usually very dissimilar, sometimes pro- 

 longed below into a spur, usually inferior by twisting of the ovary. Stamens 

 3, of which 1 or 2 are abortive, adnate to the pistil and forming a column. 

 Fertile anthers usuallj^ solitary, in a few genera 2, usually 2-celled, contain- 

 ing 2-3 waxy or powdery poUinia, these pollen-masses usually stalked and 

 often attached at the base to a viscid gland. Gynoecium of 3 united car- 

 pels; ovary inferior, 1-celled, twisted. Capsule 3-valved. Seeds numerous. 

 Endosperm wanting. 



Fertile stamens 2 ; lip a large inflated sack. 



Sepals distinct; lip with an almost conical obtuse prolongation below. 



1. Crios.\nthes. 

 Lower sepals united; lip rounded-saccate. 2. Cypripedium. 



Fertile stamen 1. 



Pollinia caudate at the base, attached to a viscid disk or gland. 



Glands enclosed in a pouch-like fold; lip 3-lobed. 3. Orchis. 



Glands not enclosed in a pouch. 



Gland surrounded by a thin membrane; lip toothed at the apex. 



4. Coeloglossum. 

 Gland naked: lip entire. 



Sepals 3-5-nerved; plants with rootstock or flbro-fleshy roots. 



Stem scapiforra; leaves 1-2, basal; anther-sacks divergent; plants in 

 ours with rootstocks. 

 Basal leaves 2; ovary straight. 5. Lysl^s. 



Basal leaf 1 ; ovary arcuate. 6. Lysiella. 



Stem leafy; anther-cells parallel or nearly so; plants with fleshy-fibrous 



roots. 7. LiMNORCHIS. 



Sepals 1 -nerved; plants with rounded or oblong, undivided biennial corms. 



8. PIPERIA. 



Pollinia not produced into caudicles. 

 Pollinia granulose or powdery. 



Anthers operculate: leaves alternate. 



Green plan'^s, with large leaves. 9. Serapias. 



Plant white, turning brownish; leaves reduced, scale-like. 



10. Eburophyton. 

 Anthers not operculate. 



Leaves green, borne on the stem. 



Leaves alternate; spike mostly twisted. 11. Ibidium. 



Leaves 2, opposite; spike not twisted. 12. Ophrys. 



Leaves usually white-reticulate, basal. 13. Peramium. 



PoUinia smooth or waxy. 



Plants with corms or solid bulbs, rarely with coralloid roots; leaves not scale- 

 like. 



