Ms. IRIDACE^E. 



1. IRIS, Tourn. FLOWER-DE-LUCE. FLAG. 



Perianth-tube more or less prolonged above the ovary, the outer segments obovate 

 above the narrow claw, spreading or recurved, the inner narrower and erect. 

 Stamens distinct, with linear or oblong anthers, beneath the arching petal-like 

 branches of the style. Base of the style connate with the perianth-tube ; the 

 divisions declinate on the sepals, stigmatic at the thin apex, above which is a 

 broad 2-parted crest, this decurrent on the inner side to the base of the style form- 

 ing a narrow covered channel. Ovules numerous, in 2 rows in each cell. Seeds 

 horizontal, flattened or more or less turgid. Stems rather stout, mostly terete, 

 from usually thickened rootstocks : leaves ensiform or linear : flowers large and 

 showy, solitary or few in a forked corymb : spathe of 2 or more valves, the inner 

 scarious. Baker, Revis. in Gardener's Chronicle, 1876, & Journ. Linn. Soc. xvi. 136. 



A genus of nearly 100 species, distributed through the extra-tropical regions of the northern 

 hemisphere, most abundant in Asia. Of the 16 or 18 species of the United States the following 

 are mostly confined to the Pacific slope, and all belong to Apogon, in which the divisions of the 

 perianth are wholly without crest or beard. 



* Perianth-tube narrow and cylindrical, more or less elongated : stems leafy : 

 leaves linear: bracts of the spathe closely approximate, foliaceous. 



1. I. macrosiphon, Torr. Stems low and very slender, 1 to 10 inches high, 

 somewhat flattened, from slender rootstocks (a line or two in diameter) : radical 

 leaves often much elongated (6 to 15 inches long and a line or two wide), narrowly 

 acuminate : bracts linear-lanceolate and usually long-acuminate, 2| to 4 inches long 

 and 3 or 4 lines broad : flowers 1 or 2, shortly pedicellate, with a filiform tube 1 to 

 3 inches long, bright lilac-purple ; sepals 1 to 2 inches long : capsule oblong- 

 ovoid, shortly acute at each end, an inch long : seeds compressed, angled. Pacif. 

 E. Rep. iv. 144; Baker, Gard. Chron. 1876 2 , 144. 



Common in the Coast Ranges from San Francisco to Humboldt, on hillsides ; blooming in 

 March and April. The flowers are said to be sometimes cream-colored ; well marked by the long 

 tube and slender habit. 



2. I. Douglasiana, Herbert. Stouter and usually taller than the last (6 to 18 

 inches high) : radical leaves 3 to 5 lines wide, much exceeding the stem : bracts 

 broader and less acuminate : flowers 2 or 3, somewhat larger and on longer pedicels 

 (6 to 18 lines long), the narrow perianth-tube 6 to 12 lines long, pale lilac, the 

 sepals with a white centre veined with purple : capsule oblong, acutely trian- 

 gular, 1| inches long: seeds nearly globular. Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 395; 

 Hook. f. Bot. Mag. t. 6083 ; Baker, 1. c. 226. 



Apparently of the same range with the last. 



* * Perianth-tube short and funnelform above the ovary. 



+- Bracts foliaceous, separate and often distant : stems leafy : leaves narrowly 



linear: rootstocks slender. 



3. I. Hartwegi, Baker, 1. c. 322. Stems slender and flattened, 2 to 9 inches 

 high, from slender rootstocks, 2-flowered : leaves linear, 2 or 3 lines wide, long- 

 acuminate, the lower exceeding the stem, often much elongated : bracts linear- 

 lanceolate, rarely nearly contiguous, 2 or 3 inches long : pedicels ^ to 3 inches 

 long : flowers " white, or pale blue with fine lines, becoming yellow " ; tube thick, 

 about 3 lines long ; segments narrow and with long claws, 1 to 2 inches long, the 

 petals scarcely shorter : anthers equalling the filaments : styles with long crests : cap- 

 sule oblong, 3-angled, acute at each end, an inch long : seeds flattened and angled. 



Common in the Sierra Nevada from Mariposa to Plumas County ; June. 



