138 ORCHIDACEJE. Cypripedium. 



base. Column very short, incurved, bearing at each side a 2-celled anther on a 

 short filament : stigma terminal, disk-like, broad and obscurely 3-lobed, covered 

 above by the fleshy triangular and pedicelled sterile anther. Pollen pulpy-granular. 

 Stems herbaceous and leafy, from tufted fibrous roots ; leaves large and many- 

 nerved, plaited, sheathing at the base ; flowers few or solitary, large and showy, 

 pedicellate and leafy-bracted. 



A genus of 25 or 30 species, a third belonging to Europe and Asia, the remainder to America 

 from the Arctic Ocean to Peru chiefly North American. 



1. C. montanum, Dougl. More or less roughly and glandular-pubescent, stout, 

 a foot or two high, leafy : leaves ovate to broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 4 to 6 

 inches long : flowers 1 to 3, shortly pedicelled : sepals and wavy-twisted petals 

 brownish, narrowly to linear-lanceolate, 1| to 2| inches long, the lower sepals united 

 nearly to the apex ; lip oblong, an inch long, dull white veined with purple : sterile 

 anther ovate-triangular to oblong-lanceolate, 4 or 5 lines long, on a slender filament, 

 deeply channelled above, yellow with purple spots, somewhat longer than the 

 stigma: capsule erect or nearly so, oblong, 10 lines long. Lindl. Orch. 528. 

 C. occidental, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 147. 



Frequent in the mountains from Santa Cruz and Mariposa Counties to Washington Territory. 

 Flowers very fragrant ; June and July. 



2. C. Californicum, Gray. Pubescent, leafy, a foot or two high : leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, the upper lanceolate and acuminate, 3 or 4 inches long : flowers 3 

 to 6, shorter than the bracts: sepals broadly oval, the lower united to the apex, 

 acute, half an inch long, equalling the oblong-linear acutish petals, all greenish- 

 yellow ; lip obovate- globose, white or light " rose-color and spotted," a little 

 exceeding the sepals, pubescent within at the base : sterile anther rounded and arch- 

 ing, nearly sessile, 2 lines long, equalling the roughened stigma : capsules reflexed, 

 oblong, 8 lines long. Proc. Am. .Acad. vii. 389. 



In damp soils in open woods in the northern part of the State ; on the Upper Sacramento in 

 an upland swamp with Darlingtonia (Brewer) ; Red Mountains, Mendocino County, Kellogg & 

 Harford. August and September. 



ORDER CVI. IRIDACE.S3. 



Perennial herbs, with equitant sheathing 2-ranked ensiform or linear leaves, and 

 perfect triandrous regular flowers, the petal-like divisions of the superior 6-cleft 

 perianth in 2 series and convolute in the bud ; stamens on the base of the sepals, 

 distinct or monadelphous and with extrorse anthers ; ovary 3-celled, becoming a 

 somewhat 3-lobed or triangular loculicidal capsule, with few to many anatropous 

 seeds ; embryo straight in usually fleshy albumen. Flowers showy, few or soli- 

 tary, spathaceously bracteate. Style usually 3-cleft at the apex, the stigmatiferous 

 branches often petaloid-dilated. Stems commonly from creeping rootstocks or 

 conns, which are more or less acrid. 



A large order of 50 or more genera, chiefly S. African, S. American, and Mexican, sparingly 

 tropical. The following are the only genera occurring in the United States, excepting Nemastylis 

 in the S. Atlantic States and a few species of Mexican genera found in Texas and New Mexico. 



1. Iris. Outer segments of the flower recurved, the inner erect. Branches of the style petaloid, 



opposite to the anthers. Filaments distinct. Rootstocks creeping. Seeds flattened. 



2. Sisyrinchium. Segments similar, spreading. Stigmas filiform, alternate with the anthers. 



Filaments connate. Roots fibrous. Seeds globular. 



