BLUE AND PURPLE WILD FLOWERS 



green seed case which terminates the stem. Usually 

 several buds are guarded with a pair of short, sheathing 

 leaflets, and they blossom one at a time. About 

 twenty species of Iris are found distributed through- 

 out North America and the name Fleur-de-lis is 

 generally applied to them all. 



POINTED BLUE-EYED GRASS 



Sisyrtncbium angusttfohum. Iris Family. 



The pretty little blue, starry flowers of this familiar 

 species peep up here and there through the grass of our 

 moist fields and meadows from May to August, like so 

 many golden-centred floral scarf pins. The blossoms 

 expand only once, and even then require the bright 

 morning sunshine to coax them fully open, so that their 

 petals curve gracefully backward and expose their 

 bright yellow eyes. The slender, rigid, two-edged, 

 light green stalk grows from three to fourteen inches in 

 height. It is usually winged and rarely forked at the 

 top. The long, slender, sharp pointed grass-like 

 leaves are mostly gathered in a sheath at the base. 

 From one to three, six-parted, violet-blue, yellow-eyed 

 flowers blossom one at a time, on tiny stems, which 

 spring from a pair of sheathing leaflets at the top 

 of the stalk. Each of the blunt oblong flower parts 

 is tipped with a short, sharp, bristly point. They 

 have three stamens and a pistil. This quickly perish- 

 ing and very dainty little beauty is all the more 

 lovely when we realize that it belongs to the Iris 

 family and is related to the showy Blue Flag. It 



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