454 



IRIDACEAE. 



Eastern Blue-eyed Grass, 



2. Sisyrinchium Atlanticum Bicknell. 



(Fig. 1084.) 



Sisyrinchium Atlanticum Bicknell, Bull. Torr. 

 Club, 23: 134. 1896. 



Similar to the preceding, but paler, glaucous 

 green, often more tufted, the stem more slender 

 and weaker, rather narrowly 2-winged, very 

 smooth-edged, sometimes 2 long and reclin- 

 ing, terminating in two or three mostly sub- 

 equal branches, often also with one or two lat- 

 eral ones; branches slender and wiry, often 

 recurved and forming a distinct angle with 

 the floral bracts. Leaves narrower, rarely over 

 \" wide, the basal ones usually much shorter 

 than the stem; bracts nearly or quite equal, 

 narrow, mostly somewhat scarious, often pur- 

 plish; flowers slightly smaller; outer surface of 

 perianth and young capsule minutely downy; 

 capsules 2-7, usually 5, on generally erect pedi- 

 cels, 7 // -io // long; oval, i // -2 // long and W- 

 i%" in diameter; seeds oval, subglobose, X /x - 

 y z " in diameter, dark, faintly pitted or nearly 

 smooth. 



In moist fields, meadows and brackish marshes, often in sandy soil, Newfoundland to Florida, 

 mainly near the coast. May-June. 



3. Sisyrinchium angustifolium Mill. 

 Pointed Blue-eyed Grass. (Fig. 1085.) 



S. angustifolium Mill. Gard. Diet. Ed. 7. 1759. 

 Sisyrinchium anceps Cav. 6: 345. pi. 190. f. 2. 1788. 

 S. mucronatum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 33. 1803. 



Pale glaucous green, stems 2-edged, scarcely 2- 

 winged, slender, rigid, erect, 3 / -i4 / tall, simple, or 

 very rarely forking into 2 branches above. Leaves 

 commonly all basal, rigid and often almost setaceous, 

 the edges rough or smooth, % rr -\%" wide, shorter 

 than the stem; bracts very unequal, sometimes pur- 

 plish, the lower one usually about twice as long as 

 the upper; flowers 6 // -8 // broad; pedicels erect, about 

 8 X/ long, shorter than the lower bract; capsule sub- 

 globose, 2 // -3 // in diameter; seeds large, %"-}' f 

 long, somewhat obovoid, faintly pitted or nearly 

 smooth, brown. 



In fields and meadows, Newfoundland to British Co- 

 lumbia, Virginia, Kansas and Colorado. May-Aug. 



Family 26. MARANTACEAE Lindl. Nat. Syst. 1830. 



ARROWROOT FAMILY. 



Tall herbs, perennial by rootstocks or tubers, or sometimes annual, with 

 scapose or leafy stems, mostly large entire long-petioled sheathing leaves, often 

 swollen at the base of the blade, the veins pinnate, parallel. Flowers perfect or 

 sometimes polygamous, irregular, in panicles, racemes or spikes. Perianth su- 

 perior, its segments distinct to the summit of the ovary or united into a tube, 

 normally in 2 series of 3, the outer (sepals) usually different from the inner 

 (petals). Perfect stamen i; anthers i-2-celled. Staminodia mostly 5, often 

 petal-like, separate or united by their bases, very irregular. Ovary i-3-celled, 

 inferior; ovule i in each cavity, anatropous; style slender, curved, terminal; 

 stigma simple. Fruit capsular or berry-like, i-3-celled. Seed solitary in each 

 cavity. Embryo central, in copious endosperm. 



About 12 genera and 160 species, mostly in the tropics, a few in warm-temperate regions. 



