IRIDACE^. (mis FAMILY.) • 517 



nre olilong-obovate and on slender claics, the outer ones slightly hairy down 

 the orange-yellow base, c)a.V/ess ; pod obtusely triangular. — Wooded hillsides, 

 A'irgiuia, Kentucky, and southward., April. 



5. I. erist^ta, Ait. (Crested Dwarf Iris.) Leaves lanceolate (3' -5' 

 long when grown) ; those of the spathc oa'tte^anceolate, shorter than the thiead- 

 Uke Inbc of the perianth; which is 2' long and much lonfjer than the light blue 

 obovate short-clawed dn-isions, the outer ones cresteil but beardless ; pod sharply 

 triangular. — Mountains of Virginia, Kentucky, and southward. ' Mav. — 

 Creeping rootstocks pungently acrid. 



6. I. laCTistriS, Nutt. (L.\ke Dwarf Iris.) Tube of the perianth rather 

 shorter than the dinisions (yellowish, ^'-|' long), dilated upwards, not exceeding 

 the spathe : otherwise as in the last, and too near it. — Gravelly shores of Lakes 

 Huron and Michigan. May. 



2. PARDANTHUS, Kcr. Blackberry-Lily. 

 Perianth 6-parted almost to the ovary; the divisions widely and equally 

 spreading, all nearly alike, oblong with a narrowed base, naked. Stamens mona- 

 delphous only at the base : anthers oblong. Style club-shaped, 3-cleft, the nar- 

 row divisions tipped with a small dilated stjgma. Pod pear-sliaped ; the valves 

 at length falling away, leaving the central column covered with the globose 

 black and fleshy-coated seeds, imitating a blackberry (whence the popular name). 



— Perennial, with rootstocks, foliage, &c. of an Iris ; the branching stems 

 (3° -4° high) loosely many-flowered ; the orange-yellow perianth mottled above 

 with crimson purple spots (whence the name from napBos, a leopafd, and avdos, 

 a flower). 



1. P. Chinexsis, Ker. (Ixia Chinensis, Z.) —Sparingly escaped from 

 gardens into waste places. July- Sept. (Adv. from China, &c.) 



3. SISYRINCHIUM, L. Blue-eyed Gr.^ss. 



Perianth G-parted ; the divisions alike, spreading. Stamens monadelphous to 

 the top. Stigmas thread-like. • Pod globular, 3-angled. Seeds globular. — Low 

 slender perennials, with fibrous roots, grassy or lanceolate leaves, mostly branch- 

 ing 2-edged or winged .stems, and fugacious umbelledclustcrod small flowers 

 from a 2-leaved spathe. (Name composed of oris, a hog, and pvyxos, snout, from 

 a foncy that the hogs arc fond of rooting it up ) 



1. S. Bex'mudi^na, L. Stem winged, naked, or 1 -2-leavcd; leaves nar- 

 row and grass-like; divisions of the perianth obovate, more or less notched at 

 the end, and bristle-pointed from the notch. (Leaves of the spathe almost equal, 

 shorter than the flowers.) — Var. Anceps (S. anceps, Cav.) has a broadly winged 

 scape, and the outer leaf of the very unequal spathe longer than the flowers. — 

 Var. mucron.\tum (S. mucronatum, Michx.) has a slender and narrowly winged 

 scape, very narrow leaves, those of the spathe shar))-pornted and unequal, one of 

 them usually longer than the flowers. But there are various intermediate forms. 



— Moist meadows, &c , among grass; common everywhere. June -Aug. — ■ 

 Flowers small, delicate blue, changing to purplish, rarely whitish ; or, in var. 

 Ilbidusi (S. albidura, liaf.) pure white : Illinois, Kentucky, and westward. 



