Orchidaceae 93 



mostly -'5-eelled ; ovules mostly numerous in each cell; 

 style 3-cleft, its branches sometimes divided. Capsule 

 3-celled loculicidally dehiscent, many-seeded. 



1. SISYRINCHIUM L. BLUE-EYED GRASS. 



Perennial tufted slender herbs with short rootstocks 

 simple or branched 2-edged or 2-winged stems, linear 

 grass-like leaves and rather small mostly blue terminal 

 flowers, umbellate from a pair of erect green bracts. 

 Perianth-tube short or none, the segments oblong or obo- 

 vate, equal mostly aristulate. Stamens more or less 

 monodelphous. Style branches filiform undivided, alter- 

 nate with the anthers. Capsule globose or obovoid. 

 Seeds mostly rounded smooth or pitted. 



1. S. bellum Wats. Stems 2-4 dm. high, glabrous or with sca- 

 brous margins, with 1-3 floriferous nodes at the summit ; peduncles 

 usually 2 at each node; spathes of 2, nearly equal bracts, sca- 

 brous on the keel, 4-7-flowered; perianth deep blue-purple with 

 yellowish base, 2 cm. broad or more; stamens united to near the 

 summit; anthers very small; capsule round-obovoid, 6 mm. high ; 

 seeds 1.5 mm. thick, obscurely pitted. 



Frequent on grassy slopes, both in the valleys and mountains from near 

 sea- level to 6000 feet. April- August. 



Family 12. ORCHIDACEAE. ORCHID FAMILY. 



Perennial herbs, with corms, bulbs or tuberous roots, 

 sheathing entire leaves sometimes reduced to scales. 

 Flowers perfect irregular bracted solitary, spiked or 

 racemed. Perianth of 6 segments : the outer (sepals) 

 similar or nearly so ; 2 of the inner ones (petals) lateral, 

 alike ; the third (lip) dissimilar, usually larger, often 

 spurred, sometimes inferior by torsion of the ovary or 

 pedicel. Stamens variously united with the style into 

 an unsymmetrical column; anther (in ours) 2-celled; pol- 

 len in 2-8 pear-shaped usually stalked masses (pollinia), 



