26 Introduction to Botany. 



n. SISYRINCHIUM. Blue-eyed Grass. 



(Gt.,^ stsyrinckion, a bulbous plant,) 



Grasslike plants with very short rootstock and fibrous roots. Leaves 

 linear; stems flattened and 2-edged. Flowers umbellate from a pair 

 of green bracts. Tube of the perianth short or none ; segments of the 

 perianth obovate or oblong and spreading. Ovary 3-celled, with several 

 ovules in each cell ; branches of the style threadlike and alternating 

 with the stamens. Stamens monadelphous. 



1. Sisyrincliiuni angustifolium, Mill. (L., angustus, narrow; folium, leaf.) 

 Stem from 3 to 14 inches tall, usually simple, erect. Linear leaves shorter than the 

 stem ; narrowly linear or nearly setaceous bracts subtending the umbel very un- 

 equal. Flowers white or delicate blue. Common in meadows. 



2. Sisyrinchium dnceps, Cav. (L., anceps, two-headed.) Stems broadly 

 2-winged, from 6 to 18 inches tall, terminating with two unequal branches above, 

 which are subtended by a grasslike leaf. Bracts subtending the umbels about 

 equal. In meadows, 



ORCHIDACE.a;. Orchis Family. 



Perennial herbs with corms, tubers, or tuberous roots. Leaves 

 sheathing and entire, alternate, and plainly parallel-nerved. Solitary, 

 racemed or spiked flowers, often curiously irregular. Perianth in 2 

 whorls, each of 3 divisions ; the 3 outer divisions or sepals more or 

 less petallike ; one of the inner whorl or petals differing from the others 

 in size and shape, and termed the lip. Ovary inferior, I -celled, with 

 numerous ovules on 3 parietal placentae, i or 2 perfect stamens cohe- 

 rent with the style or fleshy stigma (see Fig. 289), forming what is here 

 termed the column; each cell of the 2-celled anthers containing masses 

 of waxy or powdery pollen, termed the poUinia when adherent in a 

 definite mass. 



I. CYPRIPEDIUM. Lady's Slipper. 

 (Gr., Kypris, Venus: podion, a buskin, a low-cut woman's shoe.) 



Stems or scapes leafy ; leaves broad and many-nerved. Roots a tuft 

 of fleshy fibers. Flowers few or solitarv, large and drooping. Sepals 

 spreading, or 2 united under the lip. The 2 lateral petals spreading 

 and usually narrower than the sepals; the lip a large inflated sac. 

 Column declined, having 2 fertile stamens laterally and a petaloid 

 sterile stamen above. The broad terminal stigma obscurely 3-lobed. 



