YAM FAMILY. 335 



the fruit, when the valves fall and expose the berry-like seeds, imitating a black- 

 berry, whence the common name. 



3. NEMASTYLIS. (Name from the Greek, means thread-like style, ap- 

 plicable here to the stigmas.) Fl. spring and summer. 



N. coelestina. Pine barrens S. : l-2 high, with handsome but fuga- 

 ciou.s bright blue flowers ; the leaves mainly from the small bulb, linear and 

 plaited. 



4. SISYRINCHIUM, BLUE-EYED GRASS. (Name in Greek means 



hog's snout, the application not apparent.) Fl. all summer. ' 



S. Bermudiana. In all moist meadows ; the slender 2-winged sterns^" 

 6'- 12' high, in tufts, longer than the root-leaves, almost naked; the small 

 flowers in an umbel from a 2-leaved spathe, their obovate divisions bristle-tipped 

 from a notch, pale blue, sometimesjjurpjish, in a Western variety white. 



5. TIGRIDIA, TIGER-FLOWER (as the name denotes). Fl. summ^. 

 T. pavdnia, from Mexico, the principal species, with several varieties, 



planted out for summer (lowering, sends up a stem 2 high, bearing in succession 

 a few very large showy flowers 5' or 6' across, yellow or orange-red, the dark 

 centre gaudily spotted with crimson or purple. 



6. GLADIOLUS, CORN-FLAG. (Name a diminutive of the Latin 

 word for suvrd, from the leaves.) Several choice tender species in conserva- 

 tories ; while the hardy ones and those which bear planting out, which make 

 our gardens gay in late summer and autumn, are from the following : 



G. COmmunis, of Europe, is the old-fashioned hardy species, with rathv.. 

 few rose-red (rarely white) flowers ; the filaments longer than the anthers. 



G. Byzantinus, of the Levant, is larger in all its parts, with more flowers 

 in the spike and more showy ; filaments shorter than the linear anthers. 



G. blandus, of the Cape of Good Hope, is the parent of many of the 

 tender white or pale rose-colored varieties. 



G. cardinalis, of the Cape, also tender, has large scarlet-red flowers, 

 often white along the centre of its 3 lower divisions. 



G. psittacinus, of the Cape, is a tall and robust species, its numero*^ 

 large (lowers with very broad divisions, dull yellow, mixed or bordered with 

 scarlet. This is the parent of G. GANDAVENSIS, now universally cultivated 

 and from which so many fine sub-varieties have been produced, with scarlet, red 

 and yellow, orange, and other colors. 



7. CROCUS. (The Greek name of Saffron.} Cult, from the Old 



C. vdrnus, STRING CROCUS ; with violet, purple, white or mixed colored 



flowers, the broad divisions rarely expanded, and short dilated stigmas with 



jagged margins. 



G. lilteus and C. Susianus, YELLOW CROCUS, with yellow or orange 



flowers, and opening wider, are mere varieties of the first. 



C. sativus, FALL CROCUS, with violet purple and fragrant flowers, in 



autumn, is rarely seen here. Its long and narrow orange-red stigmas are 



saffron. 



122. DIOSCOREACE.S1, YAM FAMILY. 



Twining plants, from tubers or thick rootstocks or roots, having 

 ribbed and netted-veined petioled leaves more or less imitating those 

 of Exogens, and small greeni>h or whitish dioecious flowers, with 

 the tube of the perianth in the fertile ones adhering to the 3-celled 

 ovary ; its C divisions regular and parted to near the base or to the 

 ovary. Styles 3, distinct or nearly so. Ovules ai.d seeds 1 or 2 in 

 each cell. 



