IRIDACE.fi. (IRIS FAMILY.) 459, 



OKBER 123. IRIDACE^E. (Ims FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with cquitant ^-ranked leaves, and regular or irregular perfect flow* 

 ers ; the divisions of the Q-cleft petal-Like perianth convolute in the bud in 2 

 sets, the tube coherent with the 3-celled ovary, and 3 distinct or monadelplious 

 stamens with extreme anthers. Flowers from a 2-leaved spathe, usually 

 showy and ephemeral. Style single : stigmas 3, alternate with the cells of 

 the ovary. Pod 3-celled, loculicidal, many-seeded. Seeds anatropous : 

 embryo straight in fleshy albumen. Rootstocks, tubers, &c. mostly acrid. 

 A rather small family, here represented by only two genera. 



1. I HIS, L. FLOWER-DE-LUCE. 



Perianth 6-cleft ; the 3 outer divisions spreading or rcflexed ; the 3 inner 

 smaller and erect. Stamens distinct, placed before the outer divisions of the 

 perianth, and under the 3 petal-like stigmas. Pod 3 - 6-angled. Seeds de- 

 pressed-flattened. Perennials with creeping and often tuberous rootstocks, 

 sword-shaped or grassy leaves, and large showy flowers, flpis, the rainbow 

 deified, anciently applied to this genus on account of the bright and varied 

 colors of the blossoms.) 



# Stems leafy (l-3 high), often branching: rootstocks thick: flowers crestiess, the 

 inner divisions (petals) much smaller than the outer. 



1. It versicolor, L. (LARGER BLUE FLAG.) Stem stout, angled on 

 one side; leaves sword-shaped (f wide) ; ovary obtusely triangular with the sides 

 flat; pod oblong, turgid, with rounded angles. Wet places; common. May, 

 June. Flowers blue, variegated with green, yellow and white at the base, and 

 veined with purple. 



2. I. Virgiiuea, L. (SLENDER BLUE FLAG.) Stem very slender, 

 terete; leaves narrowly linear ($' wide); ovary 3-angled, and each side deeply 

 2-grooved ; pod triangular, acute at both ends. (I. prismatica, Pursh. I. gra- 

 cilis, Bigel.) Marshes, Maine to Virginia, and southward, near the coast. 

 June. Flower much smaller than in the last. 



fc * Low, almost stemless, 1 3-ftowered : divisions of the light blue-purple perianth 

 nearly equal : rootstocks slender, and here and there tuberous-thickened, creeping and 

 tufted. 



3. I. vei'lia, L. (DWARF IRIS.) Leaves linear, grass-like, rather glau- 

 cous, the thread-like tube of the perianth about the length of the divisions, which 

 are all beardless and crestiess ; pod triangular. Wooded hill-sides, Virginia, 

 Kentucky, and southward. April. 



4. I. <;rifttfiitl, Ait. (-CRESTED DWARF IRIS.) Leaves lanceolate (3'- 

 5' long when grown) ; those of the spathe ovate-lanceolate, shorter than the 

 thread-like tube of the perianth, which is 2 ; long and considerably exceeds the divis- 

 ions ; the outer ones crested, but beardless ; pod sharply triangular. Mountains 

 of Virginia, Kentucky, and southward. May." 



5. I. lacusfris, Nutt. (LAKE DWARF IKIS.) T< iantli r,///,,r 

 t&orter than the divisions (yellowish, .'/-ij' lon^), dilated upwards, not exceeding 



