IRIS FAMILY. 



IKIDACE^. 



Wild Iris. Iris v&^sicolor. 



Larger Blue Flag. 



Found by runlets and in moist meadows, in June. 



The rootstock sends up several leaves ensheathing the flower-stem. 



The leaf is sword-shaped, long, narrow, and pointed, with, a narrow, 

 light, ribbon-like finish to its edge; the inconspicuous ribs are grass- 

 like. Its color is a cool, light green, with traces of dull violet near the 

 foot. Several leaves overlap one another at the base. 



The flower is large, with 9 petal-like parts, growing in sets of 

 threes ; the 3 outer parts are broad, spreading, and curving downwards 

 more or less, — in color violet, marked with white and yellow, and 

 delicately lined with dark violet ; the 3 parts that alternate with these 

 are smaller, erect, and taper to a narrow foot at the base, — in color they 

 are violet ; the pistil is in 3 petal-like parts, which curve back, over the 

 broad outer divisions, with a fine arch (under which the stamens may 

 be found), — they are cleft at the tips, and in color are violet, darker at 

 the tips, and reddish on the arch. The texture of the flower is exceed- 

 ingly fine and delicate. It grows from the summit of the 3-angled 

 green seed-case, which is borne on a tall, leafy, green stem ; this stem is 

 slightly flattened on opposite sides, and is smooth and polished of 

 surface. 



The ancients, who named this flower Iris, had a true appreciation 

 of its rainbow-like qualities ; its texture is so ethereal that it seems to 

 float in the grass, and to fade before our eyes like its evanescent name- 

 sake. It however replaces one day's bloom by another flowering, and 

 keeps up a prolonged succession of blossoms from day to day. 



" The fleur-de-lys, which is the flower of chivalry, has a sword for 

 its leaf, and a lily for its heart." — Ruskin. 



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