238 ORCHID ACE.E. Cypripedium. 



base. Column very short, incurved, bearing at each side a 2-ccllcd antlier on a 

 sliort filanient: stigma terminal, disk-like, broad and obscurely 3-lobed, covered 

 above by the lloshy triangular and pcdicelled sterile anther. Pollen pulpy-granular. 

 — Stems lierbaceous and leafy, from tufted fibrous roots ; leaves large and many- 

 nerved, plaited, sheathing at the base ; flowers few or solitary, large and showy, 

 pedicellate and leafy -bracted. 



A genus of 25 or 30 species, a third belonging to Europe and Asia, the remainder to America 

 from the Arctic Ocean to Peru — chietiy North American. 



1. C. montanum, Dougl. ]\Iore or less roughly and glandular-pubescent, stout, 

 a foot or two high, leafy : leaves ovate to broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 4 to 6 

 inches long : flowers 1 to 3, shortly i)etlicell(;d : sei)als anil wavy-twi.sted petals 

 brownish, narrowly to liuear-lanceulate, U to 2^ inches long, the lower sepals united 

 nearly to the apex ; lip oblong, an inch long, dlill white veined with purple : sterile 

 anther ovate-triangular to oblong-lanceolate, 4 or 5 lines long, on a sltauler filament, 

 deeply channelled above, yellow with purple spots, somewhat longer than the 

 stigma: capsule erect or nearly so, oblong, 10 lines long. — Lindl. Orch. 528. 

 C. occideiitule, Watson, Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 147. 



Frequent in the mountains from Santa Cruz and JIariposa Counties to Washington Territory. 

 Flowers very fragrant ; June and July. 



2. C. Californicum, Oray. Pubescent, leafy, a foot or two high: leaves ovate- 

 lanceolate, acute, the upper lanceolate and acuminate, 3 or 4 inches long: flowers 3 

 to 6, shorter tlian the bracts: sepals broadly oval, the lower united to the apex, 

 acute, half an inch long, equalling the oblong-linear acutish petals, all^ greenish- 

 yellow ; lip obovateglobose, white or light " rose-color and spotted," a little 

 exceeding the sepals, pubescent within at the base : sterile anther rounded and arch- 

 ing, nearly sessile, 2 lines long, equalling tlie roughened stigma: capsules reflexed, 

 oblong, 8 lines long. — Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 389. 



In damp soils in open woods in the northern i)art of the State ; on the Upper Sacramento in 

 an upland swamp with Bar/ini/tonia (Brewer) ; Ked Jlountaius, Meuilocino County, Kellogg & 

 Harford. August and September. 



Order CVI. IRIDACEiE. 



Perennial herbs, with equitaut sheathing 2-ranked ensiform or linear leaves, and 

 perfect triandrous regular flowers, the petal-like divisions of the superior 6-cleft 

 perianth in 2 series and convolute in the bud; stamens on the base of the sepals, 

 distinct or monadeli)hous and with extrorse anthers ; ovary 3-celled, becoming a 

 somewhat 3-lobed or triangular loculicidal capsule, with few to many anatropous 

 seeds; embryo straight in usually fleshy albumen.— Flowers showy, few or soli- 

 tary, spathaceously bracteate. Style usually 3-cleft at the apex, the stigmatiferous 

 branches often petaloid-dilated. Stems commonly from creeping rootstocks or 

 corms, which are more or less acrid. 



A large order of .50 or more genera, chiefly S. African, S. American, and Mexican, sparingly 

 troi>ical The following are the only genera occurring in the United States, excepting Acmu.sli/lis 

 in the S. Atlantic States and a few species of Mexican genera found in Texas and New Mexico. 



1 Iris Outer segments of the flower recurved, the inner erect. Branches of the style petaloid, 

 oiiposite t"o the anthers. Filaments distinct. IJootstocks creeiang. Seeds ilattened. 



2. SiByrinchium. Segments similar, spreading. Stigrnas filiform, alternate with the anthers. 

 Filaments connate. Roots fibrous. Seeds globular. 



