300 IRIDACEAE (^IRIS FAMILY^ 



broad, flattened on the sides, the rhaphe not apparent. — Wet places, Nfd. to Man. 

 and southw. May-July. 



2. I. set5sa Pall., var. canadensis Foster. Stems slender, terete, 1.5-5 dm 

 high, mostly flecked at base with purplish ; leaves bright green, strongly nerved 

 0.5-1 cm. broad ; flowers short- pediceled, strongly marked with white toward 

 the center; the inconspicuous involute or tubular pointed petals \ as long as th€ 

 sepals; style-branches with spreading lobes; cajt).sM?e subcylindric or ovoid, blunt 

 or barely mucronate, the thin elastic walls pale, flecked with purple, the angles 

 obtuse or rounded; seeds 2-8.5 mm. broad, idth plump sides and prominent 

 rhaphe. (/. Hooken Fenny.) — Seabeaches and headlands, Lab. and Nfd. to 

 the lower St. Lawrence ; and along the coast to e. Me. June, July. 



2. Seeds in 1 row in each cell. 



3. I. carolinillna Wats. Tall (1 m. or less high); leaves bright green, soft, 

 1-3 cm. broad; flowers subsessile or short-pediceled, "lilac, variegated with 

 yellow, purple and brown;" petals more than half the length of the sepals; 

 seeds, with flattened sides, 8-10 mm. broad. — Swamps, s. Va. to Ga. and La. 

 June. 



a a. Ovary and capsule sharply angled. 



4. I. prismdtica Pursh. (Slender Blue Flag.) Stem very s?ew(7'?r, terete, 

 2.5-9 dm. high, from a slender rootstock ; leaves narrowly linear (^3-7 mm. 

 wide); flowers slender-pediceled (4-6 cm. long), the tube extremely short; 

 ovary 3-angled. — Marshes near the coast, N. S. to Ga. June, July. 



= = Floivers brown or yellow. 



5. I. fiilva Ker. Stem and leaves as in no. 1 ; flowers copper-colored or dull 

 reddish-brown, variegated with blue and green ; petals widely spreading ; tube 

 cylindrical, as long as the 6-angled ovary ; style-branches narrow. — Swamps, 

 s. 111. and Mo. to La. and Ga. May. 



I. pseudAcorus L., the Yellow'Iris of European marshes, with several very 

 iong linear leaves, bright yellow beardless flowers, and erect petals^ is becoming 

 established in N. E., N. Y., and N. J. 



I. orientXlis Mill. (7. ochroleuca L.), an Asiatic species, with stem-leaves 

 few and reduced, and pale-yellow or whitish flowers, is freely cultivated, and 

 tends to become naturalized in marshes on the coast of Ct. (Mrs. M. E. 

 BusselV). 



*-<■ ++ Spathes mostly suhsessile or on inconspicuous peduncles in the axils of the 

 upper conspicuous leaves ; flowers large, blue-violet. 



6. I. hexdgona Walt. Stem terete, flexuous, 3-9 dm. tall ; leaves green, not 

 glaucous, the upper very elongated and much overtopping the flowers, 1-3 cm. 

 broad ; flowers mostly axillary, resembling those of no. 1, but larger ; capsule 

 very firm, 6-angled, short-beaked ; seeds in 2 rows in each cell. (7. foliosa 

 Mack. & Bush.) — Rich low woods and shores, local, O. to Mo., and southw. 

 to S. C, Fla., and Tex. May, June. 



•»- -H- Claw and lower part of blade of sepals beaded. 



7. i. GERMANicA L. (Fleur-de-lis. ) Lcavcs broad, glaucous ; spathcs 2-3- 

 *iowered ; perianth-tube greenish, cylindrical ; sepals dark violet-purple, pendent 

 with bright yellow beard ; petals equaling the sepals in length and breadth, lilac ; 

 capsule trigonous. — Established in Va. and W. Va. (Introd. from Eu.) 



* * Stems low (0.5-1.5 dm. high), from tufted and creeping slender {or here and 

 there tuberous-thickened) rootstocks, l-^-floivered ; tube of the perianth 

 long and slender; the violet-blue sepals and petals nearly equal. 



8. I. virna L. (Dwarf Iris.) Leaves linear, grass-like (3-10 mm. wide), 

 rather glaucous ; the thread-like tube about the length of the sepals and petals, 

 which are oblong-obovate and on slender claws, the sepals slightly hairy down 

 the orange-yellow base, crest! ess ; capsule obtusely triangidar. — Wooded hill- 

 sides. Pa. to Ky., und southw. Apr., May. — Flowers sometimes white with 

 yellowish center. 



