140 IRIDACE^. Iris. 



I. TENAX, Doiigl. (Bot. Reg. t. 1218 ; Hook. Eot. Mag. t. 3343 ; Baker, 1. c. 323), ranging 

 from Oregon to British Columbia, may perhaj)s be found in N. California. It is a similar species, 

 but taller and l-flowered ; flowers larger, on short pedicels, bright lilac-purple, the segments 2 to 

 2j^ inches long and broader : seeds scarcely flattened, somewhat angled obtusely. 



•«- -I- Bracts contir/iioiis or rarely separated : stems naked or nearly so, usually 

 tall : rootstock stout. 



4. I. longipetala, Herbert. Stems stout, 1 to IJ feet high, 3 - 5-flowered ; 

 leaves aV)out a.s high, 3 to 5 hues broad : bracts foliaceous, large and acuminate, 3 

 or 4 inches long : Howers very large, bright lilac, on stout pedicels an inch or two 

 long; tube funnelshaped, 3 lines long; sepals 2| to 3 inches long and 1 to 1| 

 broad, narrowed to a short claw, white below and veined with violet, the niidvein 

 yellow ; petals oblanceolate, 2 inches long : anthers shorter than the stigmas : styles 

 broadly crested : capsule oblong, narrowed at each end, 2 inches long : seeds flat- 

 tened, nearly 3 lines long. — Hook & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 369; Hook. Bot. Mag. 

 t. 5298; Baker, 1. c. G15. 



In meadows about San Francisco Bay and to Monterey ; May. 



"). I, Missouriensis, Xutt. Stem rather slender, terete, naked or with 1 or 2 

 leaves, \ to 2 ll-et high, (1 -3-) usually 2-flowered : leaves 2 or 3 lines broad, mostly 

 shorter than the stem : bracts dilated and scarious, 1 to IJ inches long, acute or 

 acuminate : flowers pale blue, on pedicels J to nearly 2 inches long ; tube 3 or 4 

 lines long, narrowed below ; sepals 2 to 2| inches long, the petals a little shorter, all 

 with narrow claws : anthers not exceeding the filaments, equalling or exceeding the 

 stigmas : capsule oblong, triangular or subterete, 1 to 1| (rarely 2) inches long, acute 

 at each end : seeds obovate, acute at base, 2 lines long. — Journ. Acad. Philad. 

 vii. 58. /. Tolviieana, Herbert in Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 396 ; Watson, Bot. 

 King Exp. 342 ; Baker, 1. c. 226. 



On the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada from Inyo to Siskiyou County (Yreka, Greene) and the 

 Columbia, common in the mountains of the interior eastward to Colorado and Montana, and 

 south to Arizona ; apparently the only species of the Great Basin. What appears to be the same 

 is also found near Foit Tejon, Kennedy. It was erroneously described by Nuttall, from dried 

 specimens, as having the outer segments yellow. Veiy variable in size, but well marked by its 

 scarious bracts ; flowering June and July. 



2. SISYRINCHIUM, Linn. Blue-eyed Grass. 

 Perianth 6-parted, the segments equal and similar, spreading. Stamens more or 

 less monadelphous ; anthers oblong or lanceolate. Style short : stigmas filiform 

 and involute, alternate with the stamens. Capsule membranaceous, subglobose. 

 Seeds several, rounded. — Stems simple or branched, usually geniculate and winged, 

 from fibrous roots, with linear-lanceolate or grass-like radical leaves, and fugacious 

 flowers on slender pedicels, clustered wathin 2 sheathing herbaceous bracts, with a 

 scarious bractlet subtending each pedicel. 



About 40 species, all American, mostly Mexican and South American (one species also found 

 in the Bermudas and perhaps native to Europe). Three species or more are found in the Atlantic 

 and Gulf States. 



* Filaments united to the top : anthers short-sagittate : stigmas short : florvers 

 blue: stems ancipital, usually branched. 

 1 . S. bellum, Watson. Stems | to 2 feet high or more, smooth or scabrous on 

 tlio margin, witli a single or often 2 or 3 nodes : leaves a line or two wide, shorter 

 tlian the stem : peduncles 1 to 4 (usually 2) at each node, 2 to 4 inches long and 

 about equalling tlie bract : spathes of 2 mostly nearly equal bracts, a half to an 

 inch long, scabrous on the keel, 4-7-flowered: flowers 6 to 12 lines broad, some- 



