300 IKIDACEAE (iris FAMILY) 



broad, flattened on the sides, the rhaphe not apparent. — Wet places, Nfd. to Man. 

 and southw. May-July. 



2. I. setbsa Pall., var, canadensis Foster. Stems slender, terete, 1.5-5 dm. 

 high, mostly flecked at base with purplish ; leaves hrUjht green, strongly nerved, 

 0.5-1 cm, broad ; flowers short-pediceled, strongly niarked with white toward 

 the center ; the inconspicuous invohite or tubular pointed petals \ as long as the 

 sepals; style-branches with spreading lobes; capszt/e subcylindric or ovoid, blunt 

 or barely mucronafe, the thin elastic icalls pale, flecked with purple, the angles 

 obtuse or rounded ; seeds 2-S.o mm. broad, with plump sides and prominent 

 rhaphe. (I. iyoo7i'e?v Penny.) — Seabeaches and headlands. Lab. and Nfd. to 

 the lower St. Lawrence ; and along the coast to e. Me. June, July. 



2. Seeds in 1 row in each cell. 



3. I. caroliniana Wats. Tall (1 m. or less high); leaves bright green, soft, 

 l-;^ cm. broad; flowers subsessile or short-pediceled, "lilac, variegated with 

 yellow, purple and brown ;" petals more than half the length of the sepals; 

 seeds, with flattened sides, 8-10 mm. broad. — Swamps, s. Va. to Ga. and La. 

 June. 



a a. Ovary and capsule sharply angled. 



4. I. prismatica Pursh. (Slender Blue Flag.) Stem very slender, terete^ 

 2.5-9 dm. high, from a slender rootstock ; leaves narrowly linear (3-7 mm. 

 wide); flowers slender-pediceled (4-6 cm. long), the tube extremely short; 

 ovary 3-angied. — Marshes near the coast, N. S. to Ga. June, July. 



= = Flowers brown or yellow. 



5. I. f lilva Ker. Stem and leaves as in no. 1 ; flowers copper-colored or dull 

 reddish-brown, variegated with blue and green ; petals widely sjweading ; tube 

 cylindrical, as long as the 6-angled ovary ; style-branches narrow. — Swamps, 

 s. 111. and Mo. to La. and Ga. May. 



I. psKLUACORus L., the Yellow Iris of European marshes, with several very 

 long linear leaves, bright yellow beardless flowers, and erect petals, is becoming 

 established in N. E.° N. Y., and N. J. 



1. ORIEXTA.LIS Mill. (/. ochroleuca L.), an Asiatic species, with stem-leaves 

 few and reduced, and pale-yellow or whitish flowers, is freely cultivated, and 

 tends to become naturalized in marshes on the coast of Ct. {Mrs. M. E. 

 Bussell). 



■^ ++ Spathes mostly siibsessile or on inconspicuous peduncles in the axils of the 

 upper conspicuous leaves; flowers large, blue-violet. 



6. I. hexagona Walt. Stem terete, flexuous, 3-9 dm. tall ; leaves green, not 

 glaucous, the upper very elongated and much overtopping the flowers, 1-3 cm. 

 broad ; flowers mostly axiUary, resembling those of no. 1, but larger ; capsule 

 very Arm, 6-angled, short-beaked ; seeds in 2 rows in each cell. (7. foliosa 

 xVIack. & Bush.) — Rich low woods and shores, local, O. to Mo., and southw. 

 to S. C, Fla., and Tex. May, June. 



■*- -)- Claw and lower part of blade of sepals beaded. 



7. j. GERMANIC A L. (Fleur-de-lis. ) Lcavcs broad, glaucous ; spathcs 2-3- 

 :iowered ; perianth-tube greenish, cylindrical; sepals dark violet-purple, pendent 

 with bright yellow beard ; petals equaling the sepals in length and breadth, lilac ; 

 capsule trigonous. — Established in Va. and W. Va. (Introd. from Eu.) 



* * Stems low (0.5-1.5 dm. high), from tufted and creeping slender {or here and 

 there tuberous-thickened) r<>otst<>cks, \-^-flowerod ; tube of the perianth 

 long and slender ; the violet-blue sepals and petals nearly equal. 



8. I. verna L. (Dwarf Iris.) Leaves linear, grass-like (3-10 mm. wide), 

 rather glaucous ; the thread-like tube about the length of the se|)als and petals, 

 wliich are oblong-obovate and on slender claws, tlie sepals .sKightly hairy down 

 the orange-yellow base, crestless ; capsule obtusely triangular. — Wooded hill- 

 sides. Pa. to Ky., and southw. Apr., May. — Flowers sometimes, white with 

 yellowish center. 



