Plants Growing in Moist Soil : Low 

 Meadows and by Running Streams. 



" Now when it flowereth, 



And when the banks and fields 



A re greener every day, 

 And sweet is each bird's breath 



In the tree where he builds 



Singing after his way, 

 Spring comes to us with hasty steps and brief, 



Everywhere is leaf, 

 And everywhere makes people laugh and play." 



Rinaldo U Aquino. 



LARGER BLUE FLAG. FLEUR-DE-LIS. (Plate XXXIV.) 



Iris versicolor. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Iris. Royal purple, variegated -with Scentless. Southward to May, June. 

 e^ yellow and green. the Gulf. 



Flowers : large ; solitary ; growing at the ends of the flower-stalks and 

 branches. Perianth: of six divisions united below into a tube; the three 

 outer ones spreading, with abundance of yellow; the three inner ones, erect 

 and smaller. Stamens: three; inserted. Pistil: one, with a three-cleft, petal- 

 like style that arches over its own stigmas. Leaves : equitant, or folded length- 

 wise ; sword-shaped ; mostly at the base of the stem. Stem : stout ; leafy ; 

 branched above ; glaucous. 



Juno, as we must all agree, was a goddess of rare taste. For 

 her favourite bird she chose the peacock, and her attendant, or 

 messenger, was Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. In this regal 



