122 ORCHIDACEAE (ORCHID FAMILY) 



2. SISYRINCHIUM L. Blue-eyed Gbas8 



Stems simple or branched, usually geniculate and winged, with, linear- 

 lanceolate or grass-like radical leaves, and fugacious flowers on slender pedi- 

 cels, clustered within 2 sheathing herbaceous bracts, with a scabrous bractlet 

 subtending each pedicel. Perianth 6-parted. Capsule membranaceous, sub- 

 globose. 



Flowers and fruits all terminal on normal (scapes) stems. 



Bracts very unequal; the outer (lower) much surpassing the in- 

 florescence. 



Plant large throughout • i- , , 1. S. montanum. 



Plant slender, scapes and leaves very narrow . . . . 2. S. angustifolium. 

 Bracts moderately unequal, the outer not much longer than the in- 

 florescence 3. S. occidentale. 



Flowers and fruits in part basal on dwarf (scapes) stems . . , . 4. S. heterocarpum. 



1. Sisyrinchium montanum Greene, Pitt. 4: 33. 1899. -Plant stout, erect, 

 more than 3 dm. high, herbage Ught green, glabrous, not glauoescent: foliage 

 rather copious but short, less than half the length of the scapes, the broad 

 leaves about 9-striate, the alternate Unes commonly rather pbscure: scapes 

 ancipital, each of the broad, sharp-edged subfentire wings strongly 3-striate; 

 spathes mostly solitary, their bracts very unequal, the outer more than twice 

 the length of the inner and 4-5 cm. long: perianth dark purple; capsules large 

 (about 5 mm. in diameter)", almost globose. — Western Colorado. 



2. Sisyrinchium angustifolium Miller, Diet. Ed. 7. 1759. Pale green and 

 glaucous: stem 2-edged but scarcely winged, 1-3 dm. high: leaves very narrow, 

 the edges either rough or smooth, much shorter thaii the stem: bracts very 

 unequal, sometimes purplish, the outer about twice as long as the inner and 

 usually much surpassing the flowers and fruit: capsules subglpbose. S. 

 mucronatum and S. anceps. (S. alpestre Bickn. 1. c. 4^3.)-^-Moist grassy banks 

 and fields; Colorado to the New England States. ' i , 



3. Sisyrinchium occidentale Bickn. Bull. Tprr. i^ot. 'Club^ 26: 447. 1899. 

 Rather stiffly erect, 15-30 cm. high: leaves narrow, rigiS and'^ungently aciute, 

 much shorter than the stem: bracts more or less hyaline-margined, somewhat 

 unequal; the outer 2-3 cm. long, equaling or,but slightly longer than the in- 

 florescence: capsule subglobose, light brown. — Colorado to Idiiho and Montana. 



4. Sisyrinchium heterocarpum Bickn. 1. c. 348. Resembling S. angustifoliiim 

 but greener and ihe stems somewhat stouter: leaves short, mostly less than 

 half as long as the stems, rather rigid : bracts very unequal, the outer usually 

 much surpassing the inflorescence: flowers and fruits of two kinds, terminal 

 and basal; the latter more or less concealed among the, bases of the leaves: 

 perianth violet-purple, 10mm. long: capsule obovoid-siibglobose: seeds black, 

 angled and rugulose-pitted. — ^Throughout Wyoming and probably extending 

 into Colorado. 



27. ORCHIDACEAE Lindl Orchid Family 



Perennial herbs, often with tuberous or fleshy roots, sometimes parasitic; 

 the leaves mostly alternate, sheathing and entire. Flowers perfect, irregular, 

 bracteate, solitary or in a spike or raceme, often showy and singular in shape, 

 adapted to cross-poUination by means of insects. Perianth-segments in two 

 series or sets; the 3 outer (sepals) similar or nearly so; the lateral ones of the 

 3 inner (petals) aUke; the third of the inner set very dissimilar and often 

 spurred, and known as the lip (labellum). Before the Up, in the axis;Of the 

 flower, is the column, composed of a single stamen, or in Cypripedium 2, vari- 

 ously coherent with or borne on the style or thick fleshy stigma. Pollen 

 imited by elastic threads into 2 clavate or pear-shaped usually stalked masses 

 (pollinia), one to each anther cell, and attached by the base of the stalk .to a 



