IRIS FAMILY 339 



winged, often branched: flowers small, usually blue or bluish, soon wither- 

 ing, in terminal 2-5-flowered umbels in a 2-leaved spathe; perianth seg- 

 ments spreading, bristle-pointed: stamens 3, monadelphous; style 1 long; 

 stigmas very slender; ovary 3-celled. 



S. angustifdlium, Mill. Grassy plants in tufts or clumps: scape 4-12 in., 

 spathe single, sessile: flowers blue to purple, rarely 

 white; petals notched and mucronate. In moist 

 meadows, among grass. Summer. Common. 



4. FREfiSIA. Freesia. 



Small, cormous plants with flat leaves: flowers 

 white or yellowish, tubular, with a somewhat spread- 

 ing limb, the tube generally curved: stem about 1 ft. 

 high, bearing several erect flowers on a sidewise 

 cluster. Popular florists' plants of easy culture and 

 quick growth. 



F. refracta, Klatt. Fig. 498. Leaves narrow: 

 flower usually somewhat 2-lipped or irregular, white in the most popular 

 forms but yellowish in some, often with blotches of yellow; fragrant. Cape 

 of Good Hope. 



5. GLADIOLUS. Gladiolus. 



Tall, erect plants, with flat, strong-veined leaves, the stem arising from 

 a corm (Fig. 54): flowers in a more or less 1-sided terminal 

 spike, short-tubed, the limb flaring and somewhat unequal: 

 stamens separate (united in some related genera): style 

 long, with 3 large stigmas. 



G. gandavensis, Van Houtte. Fig. 499. Upper seg- 

 ments of the perianth nearly horizontal: colors various and 

 bright: spikes long. Hybrid of two or more species from 

 499. Gladiolus the Cape of Good Hope. Summer and fall. The common 

 gaDdavensis. gladioli of gardens are greatly hybridized. 



VIII. ORCHIDACE.E. Orchid Family. 



Perennial herbs, distinguished by singular and extremely irregu- 

 lar perfect flowers, among the most ornamental and interesting of 

 native and exotic plants, curiously adapted, in most cases, to insect 

 pollination; many air-plants (epiphytes) of the tropics and warmer 

 regions also belong to this family. Leaves visually alternate, simple, 

 entire, sheathing: perianth in 6 divisions, adnate to the 1-celled ovary: 

 sepals 3, the outer segments of the perianth usually colored and similar 

 or nearly so, appearing petal-like, the 2 lateral petals generally alike; 

 third petal, the lip (the upper petal and, morphologically, next to 

 axis, but apparently next to bract, by a peculiar twisting of the ovary), 



