118 OCCASIONALLY FATAL. 



IRIS FAMILY Iridaceae, 

 THE BLUE FLAG Iris vcrsicolor L. 



Other Common Names : Wild Iris, Poison Flag, Water 

 Flag, Fleur-de-lis. 



The Blue Flag may cause trouble if its rootstock is 

 eaten, as sometimes happens, in mistake for that of the 

 Sweet Flag, Acorns calamus L. Violent vomiting, purg- 

 ing and burning, and congestion of the intestinal tract 

 follow its ingestion. 



The plant is erect, with thick, sword-shaped, bluish- 

 green leaves and large flowers whose perianth of three 

 large outer and three smaller, inner divisions is blue, 

 changing to yellow towards the centre, and veined with 

 purple. The pistil has three thin, petal-like stigmas, 

 which arch closely over the stamens. 



ORCHID FAMILY Orchidaceae. 

 THE LADY-SLIPPER Cypripedivm spp. 



Other Common Names: Moccasin Flower, Cypripe- 

 dium. 



The Lady-slippers, since they are among the most 

 beautiful and conspicuous of our native Orchids, are 

 much sought after for decorative purposes. 



As early as 1875 Dr. Babcock of Chicago came to the 

 conclusion that annual attacks of skin-poisoning to which 

 he was subject, were due, not, as he had supposed, to 

 Poison Ivy, but to species of Lady-slipper. Since then 

 his suspicion of the plant has been proved correct by 

 other investigators. Dr. McDougal, in 1893, experimented 

 with Ci/prijtcclium hirsutxm, the Showy Lady-slipper, 



