86 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



like this in the bhie flag, the trumpet-creeper, 

 and the monkey flower, which we will now 

 examine. 



The Larger Blue Flag — Iris versicolor 

 May-June 



The iris has an ingenious mechanism of this sort, 

 which works unfailingly. It has been called "The 



poor-man's Orchid," and its 

 blossom resembles three or- 

 chid-blossoms, growing back 

 to back, and radiating from 

 a common axis. 



A sectional view will ex- 

 plain the construction of the 

 flower, and how it works to 

 procure cross - fertilisation. 

 In the centre of the flower just above 

 the ovary is a well of nectar, and out 

 of the centre of this rises a stalk which 

 soon separates into three branches 

 that resemble purple petals. They 

 bend outward and downward and are 

 tipped with two ears and a tongue. 

 Then there are three erect purple 

 petals, surrounding the centre of the flower, and, 

 lastly, the three conspicuous, drooping petals or 



WILD IRIS 



