IRIS FAMILY 337 



3. LEUCOIUM. Snowflake. 



Flowers often more than 1: divisions of the perianth all alike: anthers 

 and style blunt: otherwise very like Galanthus. 



L. vernum, Linn. Snowflake. Taller than the snowdrop (about 1 ft.), 

 the scape usually 1-flowered, blooming later, the flowers larger. Europe. 



4. POLIANTHES. Tuberose. 



Leafy-stemmed lily-like plants, with a thick, tuberous rootstock (whence 

 the name tuber-ose not tube-rose), bearing an erect spike of white flowers; 

 perianth with a short slightly curved tube and 6 spreading nearly equal 

 divisions: stamens included in the tube (not projecting). 



P. tuberosa, Linn. Tuberose. Two to 3 ft., bearing long-linear, chan- 

 nelled, many-ranked leaves: flowers very fragrant, sometimes tinted with 

 rose. A popular garden plant from Mexico, blooming in the open in late 

 summer and autumn; some forms are double. 



5. HYPOXIS. Star-grass. 



Stemless, with grass-like, hairy leaves, growing from a corm-like root- 

 stock: flowers yellow on filiform scapes; perianth 6-parted. 



H. hirsuta, Coville. Scape 3-8 in., not so long as the grassy leaves, soft- 

 hairy: flowers 1-4, yellow, greenish without, about H in. in diameter. Com- 

 mon in dry soils. 



VII. IRIDACE^. Iris Family. 



Differs from Amaryllidacese and Liliacese in its inferior ovary, 

 3 stamens which are opposite the outer parts of the perianth, and 

 2-ranked equitant (bases overlapping) leaves: stigmas sometimes large 

 and petal-like. About 60 genera and 700 species. Representative 

 plants are iris or blue flag, crocus, gladiolus, freesia. Crocuses and 

 freesias are easily grown in window-boxes for winter and spring bloom. 



a. Lobes of the style expanded and colored, looking like 



petals 1. Iris 



AA. Lohes of the Style thread-like. 



B. Plant stemless: flowers borne on scapes. 



c. From corms: spathe 1-flowered: flower large, 



and perianth-tube long and slender 2. Crocus 



cc. From mostly fibrous roots: perianth-tube scarcely 

 perceptible, if at all: flowers small: spathe 2- 



or more flowered 3. Sisyrinchium 



bb. Plants with a leaf-bearing and flower-bearing stem. 



c. Flowers in a short 1-sided cluster: plant small 4. Freesia 



cc. Flowers in a terminal spike: plant large 5. Gladiolus 



V 



