IRIDACE.E. 307 



a few sheathing bracts in place of leaves, and a raceme at summit. Lat- 

 eral sepals oblique at base, either decurreut into a short spur adnate to 

 the side of the ovary, or forming a projecting gibbosity above it. Upper 

 sepal and petals somewhat incurved: lip dilated, usually somewhat 

 recurved, flat or concave, with a pair of longitudinal ridges near the 

 base. Column bearing the caducous anther at summit. Pollen masses 

 in 2 distinct pairs, sessile on a short oblong gland. 



1. C. multiftora, Nutt. Scape 1 2 ft. high: sepals and petals 4 5 

 lines, buff, with reddish or purplish markings; spur a line long or more 

 but quite adnate to the ovary; lip broadly ovate, subsessile, 3-lobed by a 

 deep cleft on each side, the middle lobe rounded or emarginate, the lat- 

 eral ones narrow and acutish, ridges of the body of the lip rather promi- 

 nent: column stout, two- thirds the length of the petals. Woods of the 

 mountain ranges near the coast. 



2. C. Bigelovii, Wats. Flowers fewer and smaller, altogether red- 

 purple and pure white : lateral sepals oblique and, with the base of the 

 column, strongly gibbous over the ovary: lip deeply concave, broad and 

 somewhat auriculate, elliptical; spur none: column slender, broadly 

 margined below. More frequent than the last, and on both sides of the 

 Bay; the flowers rather inconspicuous. 



OEDEB LXXXIX. I R I D A C E > . 



Stems in our species from creeping stout rootstocks, or a tuft of fibrous 

 roots. Leaves 2-ranked, ensiform, sheathing. Flowers large, few or 

 solitary, spathaceous-bracteate, regular, triandrous. Petal-like divisions 

 of the superior perianth 6, in 2 series, convolute in bud. Stamens on 

 the base of the outer series, or sepals; their anthers extrorse. 'Ovary 

 3-lobed, becoming a 3-celled capsule. 



1. IRIS, Theophr. Stems from thick rootstocks, stout, terete. 

 Flowers in the axils of spathaceous bracts along the flexuous upper part 

 of the stem. Perianth-tube prolonged beyond the ovary; outer segments 

 obovate above the claw, spreading or recurved; inner narrower, erect, 

 at apex connivent. Stamens with linear anthers lying close beneath 

 spreading or somewhat recurved large petaloid branches of the style. 

 Capsule elongated, trigonous. Seeds flattened or turgid, horizontal, in 

 2 rows in each cell. 



1. I. macrosiphon, Torr. Stem low and very slender, much shorter 

 than the leaves (these 615 in. long), somewhat flattened: leaves narrow, 

 acuminate: bracts linear-lanceolate, long-acuminate, 2^ 4 in. long; fl. 

 1 or 2, short-pedicellate, with filiform lube 13 in. long, dark violet- 

 purple: sepals 1% 2 in. long: capsule oblong-ovoid, abruptly acute at 

 each end, 1 in. long: seeds flattened and angular. Open hills about San 

 Francisco, and elsewhere near the sea. March, April. 



