POPULAR FLORA. 



•115 



Perianth irregularly 6-cleft ; 3 of the lobes arched and making an upper lip, the 3 

 lower more spreading, yellow, orange, or reddish. Stem rising from a 

 corm, and bearing many flowers in a one-sided spike, (Gladiolus) *Corn-Flag. 



Perianth 6-cleft; the divisions of two kinds, the 3 outer recurved or spreading, the 3 

 inner alternate with the others, smaller, erect, and differently shaped: 

 stigmas 3, petal-like, one before each erect stamen. Generally with 

 thick creeping rootstocks, (Iris) Iris. 



Perianth with a slender tube, rising (with the linear flat leaves) from a corm or solid 

 bulb (Fig. 76); the summit divided into 6 roundish, equal, erect, or 

 barely spreading divisions : stigmas 3, thick and wedge-shaped, some- 

 what fringe-toothed. Fl. in early spring, (Orocus) *Crocos. 



Iris or Flower-de-Luce. Iris. 

 * Common cultivated species in gardens : outer divisions of the perianth with a bearded crest. 



1. Common Iris. Flowers several on a stem, 1° to 3° high, and much longer than the sword-shaped 



leaves, light blue or purple. /. sambucina. 



2. Dwarf Garden Iris. Flowers close to the ground, hardly exceeding the sword-shaped leaves. 



violet-purple, the divisions obovate, the 3 outer recurved. Fl. in early spring. /. jmmila. 



* * Wild species. 



3. Crested Dwarf Iris. Low and almost stemless, from rootstocks spreading on the ground; leaves 



short; flower pale blue, the tube thread-shaped (2' long) and longer than the spatulate divisions, the 

 three outer divisions with a beardless crest. Fl. spring. S. and W., and in some gardens. /. crislata. 



i. Larger I. or Blue-Flag. Stem stout, 1° to 3° high, bearing several crestless and beardless purple- 

 blue and variegated flowers, their inner divisions much smaller than the outer; leaves sword- 

 shaped, i' wide. Wet places ; flowering in late spring. /. versicolor. 



5. Slender I. or Blue-Flag. Stem slender; leaves narrowly hnear (1' wide), and flower smaller 

 than in No. 4 : otherwise much like it. Wet places, E. /. Virgimca. 



102. ORCHIS FAMILY. Order OECHLDACE-ffi. 



Plants with irregular and often singular-shaped flowers, the perianth standing as it were 

 on the ovary, as in the two preceding orders ; but remarkable for having the stamens, only 

 one or two, united with the style or stigma. This may best be seen in the Lady's Slipper, 

 of which we have three or four common species : the slipper is one of the petals, in the form 

 of a sac. The flowers of various sorts of Orchis are striking and peculiar ; but the family 

 is too difficult for the young beginner, and therefore the kinds are not described here. 

 Fig. 69 represents two air-plants of this family, belonging to tropical countries. 



III. Oliimaceous Division. 



103. RUSH FAMILY. Order JUNCACE^. 



The true Rushes are known by having flowers with a regular perianth, which, although 



glumaceous, i. e. like the chaffy scales or husks of Grasses, is of 6 regular parts, like a calyx, 



enclosing 6 (or sometimes 3) stamens, and a triangular ovary. This bears a style tipped 



with 3 stigmas, and in fruit becomes a 3-seeded or many-seeded pod. There are two 



