BLUB FLAG (Iris Macrosiphon, Torr.) The general features 

 of the iris flower are too well known to need itemized descrip- 

 tion here. This genus is represented on the Pacific Coast by 

 eight or nine indigenous species, mostly plants of the mountains. 

 The flowers vary from deep purple, blue or lilac to yellow and 

 white, often with beautiful veining in one color or another, and 

 well justifying the name of Iris, which is Greek for rainbow. 



Iris Macrosiphon, usually blue-flowered, is sometimes called 

 Ground Iris from its frequent habit of growing in mats over the 

 ground, and is found wild from the San Francisco Bay region 

 northward, blooming in spring and summer. The flower stalks 

 are shorter than the numerous, erect, narrow leaves which are 

 from 6 to 20 inches tall. A characteristic feature of the flower 

 is the slender, stem-like tube of the perianth, which extends 

 1 to 3 inches beyond the ovary a character shared, however, 

 by Iris Douglasiana, Herbert, a stouter and taller species of the 

 same range. 



Mr. Chesnut records a very human use to which some of the 

 California I ndians put the leaves of the flag. When the sq ua ws 

 went berry hunting in the hot hills, they would wrap the balm--, 

 accompanying them in the soft, flexible iris leaves, thus retard- 

 ing perspiration and staving off thirst from the little folks. 

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