Iris. IRIDACEiE. 291 



2. Iris Virginica, Linn. Slender Blue Flag. 



Stem terete, slender ; leaves narrowly linear ; flowers beardless ; ovary 3-sided, with pro- 

 minent angles, each side deeply 2-grooved ; capsule triangular, acute at each end — Linn, 

 sp. I. p. 39 ; Mahl. cat. p. 4 ; Torr. Jl. \. p. 3G. I. prismalica, Pursh, Jl. 1. p. 30; Bigel. 

 Jl. Bost. p. 16 ; Bart. Jl. N. A/n. 3. t. 55 ; Deck, hot. p. 353. I. gracilis, Bigel. fl. Bost. 

 (ed. 1.) p. 12. 



Rhizoma horizontal, tuberous. Stem 1^-3 feet high, somewhat flexuous, solid. Leaves 

 about one-fourth or one-third of an inch wide. Flowers 1 - 3 at the summit of the stem, 

 blue, veined with yellow in the middle, about as large as those of /. versicolor, but more 

 delicate. Outer segments of the perianth broadly spalulate ; inner ones narrower and more 

 lanceolate. The ovary is, by Bigelow, well compared to " a cylinder with three smaller ones 

 attached to its sides." Capsule distinctly triangular. 



Borders of brackish marshes, Long Island. Fl. June. This plant was sent by Muhlen- 

 berg to Sir James E. Smith, who pronounced it /. Virginica of the Linnasan herbarium. 

 The /. Virginica of most botanists is a mere variety of /. versicolor. 



2. SISYRINCHIUM. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 1220. BLUE-EYED GRASS. 



[From the Greek, SJis, a hog, and rhyyichos, a snout ; because it was supposed that hogs were fond of rooting it up.] 



Spathe 2-leaved, bract-like. Perianth colored, regular ; the limb flat, 6-lobed : tube short. 

 Filaments usually monadelphous below. Style short ; stigmas 3, filiform and involute. 

 Capsule pedicellate, roundish-triangular, membranaceous. — Roots mostly fibrous. Stem 

 ancipital. Leaves equitant. Flowers small. 



i. SisYRiNCHiuM Bermudiana, Linn. Common Blue-eyed Grass. 



Scape winged, simple or somewhat branched above ; leaves narrow and grass-like ; spathe 

 2-valved, the valves mucronate. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 954. 



var. 1. Stem broadly winged ; valves of the spathe nearly equal, shorter than the flowers. 

 — S. Bermudiana, Michx. Jl. 2. p. 33; Ell. sk. 2. p. 152. S. anceps, " Cavan. diss. 6. 

 p. 345," ex Pursh, Jl. p. 31 ; Bigel. Jl. Bost. p. 256; Torr. fl. 1. 42; Beck, bat. p. 354 ; 

 Daiiingt. fl. Cest. p. 13. S. gramineum. Lam. enc. 1. p. 403? ; Bot. mag. t. 464. 



var. 2. Stem narrowly winged ; valves of the spathe very unequal (often colored), the outer 

 one longer than the flowers. — 8. mucronatum, Michx. I. c. ; Pursh, I. c. ; Ell. sk. I. c. ; 

 Torr. fl. I. c. ; Beck, I. c. ; Darlingt. I. c. 



Root fibrous. Stems somewhat ccspitose, about a foot high, slender, with a winged margin 

 on each side, which is broader in var. 1 ; when branched, there is a linear bracleal leaf at the 

 bifurcation. Leaves mostly radical or nearly so, variable in breadth, but usually about 2 lines 

 wide ; sometimes (particularly in var. 2) almost setaceous. Spathe 2-leavcd, equitant ; the 



37* 



