48 Flora of the Palouse Region 



75. SISYRINCHIUM. 



Perennial tufted slender herbs, with short rootstocks: stems 

 simple or branched, 2-edged or 2-winged: leaves linear, grass-like: 

 flowers rather small, mostly blue, terminal, umbellate, from a pair 

 of erect green bracts: perianth-tube short or none, the 6 spreading 

 segments oblong or obovate, equal: filaments more or less united: 

 ovary 3-celled, each cavity several-ovuled; style-branches 

 filiform, undivided, alternate with the anthers. 



Flowers blue: filaments united to the top. S. IDAHOENSE. 



Flowers purple: filaments united only at the base. S. GRANDIFLOrtm. 



S. idahoense Bicknell. Stemstufted, 20-45 cm. tall, flattened and winged, 

 the edges serrulate: leaves shorter than the stems, linear, acute, 1-3.5 mm. 

 wide, all radical, or occasionally one on the stem: bracts long and narrow: 

 flowers 3-6, pedicelled, dark blue, with a small yellow center: perianth seg- 

 ments 12-18 mm. long, mucronate: filaments united to the top. Low mead- 

 ows, common. 



S. grandlflorum Dougl. Stems mostly solitary, 15-30 cm. tall, com- 

 pressed: roots fascicled, stout: leaf-blades 5-10 cm. long, erect, shorter than 

 the sheaths: flowers 1-4, the pedicels shorter than the largest bract: perianth - 

 segments reddish-purple, broadly lanceolate, acuminate, 15-18 mm. long: 

 filaments broad at the base, shorter than the 3-cleft style. Very common. 



Family 17. ORCHIDACEAE. 



Perennial herbs, with corms bulbs or tubers: leaves 

 entire, sheathing, sometimes reduced to scales: flowers perfect, 

 irregular, bracted, solitary, spiked or racemed: perianth superior, 

 of 6 segments, the three outer (sepals) alike or nearly, so; two of 

 the inner ones (petals) lateral, alike; the third inner one (lip) dis- 

 similar, often markedly so, usually larger, often spurred, some- 

 times inferior by the twisting of the ovary or pedicel: stamens 

 variously united with the style into an uusymmetrical column; 

 anther one (rarely two); pollen more or less coherent into 

 masses (pollinia): ovary inferior, usually long and twisted, 

 3-angled, 1 -celled; ovules numerous on three parietal placentae: 

 seeds numerous: endosperm none. 



Anthers 2: lip a large inflated sac. 76. CYPRIPEDIUM. 



Anthers solitary. 



Anther-sacs divergent. 77- P^ATANTHERA. 



Anther-sacs parallel. 



Pollinia granulose or powdery. 



Leaves green, borne on the stem. 78. i.istkka. 



Leaves white-reticulated, basal. 79. GOODYERA. 



Pollinia smooth and waxy. 



Plants with conns or solid bulbs: leaves basal. 



80. CAI/VTPSO. 

 Plants with coral-like roots: leaves reduced to scales. 



81. CORAU.ORIIIZA 



