14 



A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 



36. Petals distinct or nearly so. 



Flowers in a wand-like cluster Wild Hyacinth no. y? 



Flowers solitary or a few together Iris no. 38 



37. WILD HYACINTH. QU AM ASIA. 



Bulbous herb with linear, mostly basal leaves. Flowers in 

 a wand-like solitary raceme. Petals .6, distinct, and spreading. 

 Fruit a 3-angled pod. Seeds shiny black. (Liliaccac.) 

 Wild Hyacinth. Quamasia hyacintliina. (Cainassia cscul- 

 cnta.) One to two feet tall, with slender leaves scarcely 

 34 in. wide and somewhat shorter than the stalk of the flower 

 cluster. Petals with 3-5 veins, blue, sometimes, but rarely, 

 nearly white. Pod about >4 in. thick. May. Penn. to Georgia, 

 west to Minnesota and Texas, mostly in wet places. Fig. 37. 



38. IRISES. IRIS. 



Not bulbous, but with rootstocks. Leaves long, linear or 

 lance-shaped, folded and sheathing each other at the base. 

 Flowers sometimes solitary, or a few together, large and 

 showy, long stalked. Flowers with three outer and large 

 petals recurved and sometimes crested, and three smaller 

 inner ones usually erect (see Figs. 40 and 42). Sometimes 

 inner and outer series the same size. Pod angled. (Iridaceae.) 



