MAKE "THE CITY BEAUTIFUL" 25 



I 



Flower Stem The flower stem rises from the middle of *a fan 

 or cluster of leaves which sit about it saddle-fashion; but every 

 fan does not produce a flower stem, the different varieties varying 

 considerably in this respect. 



The flower stems of the different varieties vary in height from 

 twenty to forty-eight inches, except of the interregnas, which 

 vary from twelve to thirty inches. The stems of some varieties 

 are simple and of others they are branched, and they almost in- 

 variably stand erect and carry their flowers well above the 

 foliage. 



"Amid its waving swords, in flaming gold 

 The Iris towers." Mrs. Charlotte Smith. 



"O'er her tall blades the crested Fleur-de-lis, 

 Like blue-eyed Pallas, towers erect and free." 

 Holmes: Spring. 



"Mint and Flagleaf swording high 

 Their blooms to the unthinking eye." 

 Clare: Sheph. Cal. 



Flower The flower is of somewhat unusual form. It has no 

 petals or sepals, in the ordinary sense of these terms, but it is a 

 tubular flower, and the upper edge of the short tube is cleft and 

 grows on into two sets of segments or divisions, of three each, the 

 one set being within the other. The three inner segments or 

 divisions, sometimes erroneously called petals, commonly desig- 

 nated as the "standards," are generally nearly erect and slightly 

 incurved, but in some varieties as Loreley (variegata) and E. L. 

 Crandell (plicata) they are more spreading and open. 



"In every flower that blooms around, 



Some pleasing emblem we may trace ; 



* * * # 



Peace in the olive branch we see, 

 Hope in the half -shut Iris glows, 

 In the bright laurel victory! 

 And lovely woman in the rose. 

 Chazet: Ms. 



The outer segments or divisions, called the "falls," usually 

 droop gracefully, but in a few varieties, as Isoline (squalens) and 



