ISIS FAUILT. 333 



5 2. Perianth parted ahnott to the bate into 6 nearly tqaal widely spreading dimiimt i 

 etamem teparate or nearly eo : ityle 3 - 6-lobed. 

 2. PAEDANTHUS. Foliage and aspect of an Iris witli leafy brandling stem, 

 from a rootstook. Divisions of the flower oblong with a narrow base. Fila^ 

 menta slender, much longer than the anthers. Style long, club-shaped, its 

 simple branches tipped with a broad and blunt stigma. Tod pear-shaped ; 

 the v^vea falling away expose the centre covered with blaclc berry-lika 



8. NEMASTYLIS. Stem simple or sparingly branching above, from a solid bulb 

 like that of a Crocus. Divisions of the flower obovate. Filaments awl- 

 shaped, much shorter than tlie linear anthers. Style short, its 3 lobes parted 

 each into two, bearing long and thread-like diverging stigmas. Pod truncate. 

 Seeds dry, angular. 



§ 3. Perianth deeply cleft or parted into 8 uiidely spreading divisions : stamens mon- 

 adelphous to theiop: style hng: stigmas 8 or 6, thread-like : flowers opemng 

 m sunshine and but oncejbr a few hours, 



i, SISYRINCHIUM. Boot mostly fibrous: leaves grass-like. Divisions of the 

 wheel-shaped flower all alike. Stigmas 3, simple. 



8. TIGRIDIA. From a solid bulb with 'some hard brittle coating. Leaves lance- 

 olate, large, very much plaited. Three outer divisions of me perianth very 

 large and with a concave base; the other 3 very much smaller andflddlc 

 shaped. Stigmas 3, each 2-cleft. 



§ 4. Perianth tubular at base, the 6 divisions ail more f^ less spreading : stamens sepa- 

 rate : style long : stigmas 3, more or less dilated ; flowers Imting for several 

 days. Plants from solid bulbs or corms. (Lessons, p. 46, fig. 105, 106.) 

 8. GLADIOLUS. Flowers numerous in a spike, on a rather tali leafy stem 

 remaining open, irregular, the short-funiiel-sHaped tube being somewhat 

 curved, and the divisions more or less unequal, the flower commonly oblique 

 or as if somewhat 2-lipped. Stamens {inserted on the tube,) and style as- 

 cending. Leaves sword-sh^ed, strongly nerved. 

 7. CEOCUS. Flowers and narrow linear feaves rising from the bulb, the ovary 

 and pod seldom raised above ground: perianth with a long and slender tube; 

 its oval or roundish divisions alike, or the 3 inner rather smaller, concave, 

 fully spreading only in sunshine. Leaves with revolute margins. 



There are besides many tender plants Of the family in choice collections, the 

 greater part confined to the conservatories, — mostly belonging to 



Hxia maculd:ta, of Cape of Good Hope, and others, once of that gcnns, 

 now called SpabXxis, Watsonia, &c. ; also to Montbr^tia or Trit6niaj &c. 



Scbizdstylis COCCinea, from South Africa, lately introduced: not very 

 tender, with long and keeled linear leaves, and stems 3° high, bearing a spike 

 of bright crimson-red flowers 2' across, the ovate acute lobes all alike and widely 

 spreading from a narrow tube ; the slender stylo deeply cleft (whence the name) 

 into 3 thread-like branches. 



Mortea iridoldes, of the Cape; very like an Iris, as the specific name 

 denotes; but the 6 divisions of the periaiith all nearly alike and widely spread- 

 ing, white with a yellow spot on the 3 outer ones. 



1. IBIS, FLOWER-DE-LUCE, BLUE FLAG. (Greek and Latin my 

 thological name, and name of the rainbow.) Fl. spring and eariy summer. 



§ 1. Wild species of the country, all with creeping rootstodcs. 

 * Dwarf, with simple very short stems (or only leafy tufts), I -3 flowered in earlif 

 spring, from creeping and' branching slender rootstocks, here and there tuber- 

 ous-thickened: flours viola-blue, with a l(mg slender tube, and no beard. 

 I. v6rna, Slbndek Dwakf-Ibis. Wooded hillsides, froin Virginia and 

 Kentucky S. ; with linear grassy leaves, tube of flower about the length of its 

 almost equal divisions, which are on slender orange-yellow claws, the outer ones 



CI*6Stl6SS ' "* 



I. crist&ta, Chested D. Along the Alleghanies, &c., sometimes cult. ; 

 with lanceolate leaves, or the upper ovate-lanceolate, tube of flower^ (2 long) 

 much longer than the scarcely stalked divisions, the outer ones crested ■ pod 

 sharply triangular. 



