IKIS FAMILY. 333 



§ 2. Perianth parted almost to the base into 6 nearly equal widely tpreading divisions! 

 stamens separate or nearly so ; style 3 - Q-lobea. 



2. PAEDANTHUS. Foliage and aspect of an Iris with leafy brancliing stem, 

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

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

 simple branches tipped with a broad and blunt stigma, rod pear-shaped; 

 tlie valves falling away expose the centre covered with black berry-like 



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

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

 shaped, much shorter than the 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 6 widely spreading divisions : stamens num- 

 adelphous to the top ; style long : stigmas 3 or Q, thread-like : Jiowers opening 

 in sunshine and but once for afe,w hours, 

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



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

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

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

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

 shaped. Stigmas 3, each 2-cleft. 



§ i. Perianth tubular at base, the 6 divisions all moi-e or less threading : stamens sepa- 

 rate : style long : stigmas 3, Tnore or less dilated : Jiowers lasting for several 

 days. Plants from solid bulbs or corms. (Lessons, p. 45, fig. 71, 72.) 



6. GLADIOLUS. Flowers nutnerous in a spike, on a rather tall leafy stem 



remaining open, irregular, the short-funnel-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 a&i 

 cending. Leaves sword-shaped, stronglynerved. 



7. CROCUS. Flowers and narrow linear leaves 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 



Ixia maculkta, of Cape of Good Hope, and others, once of that genus, 

 now called SparAxis, Watsonia, &c. ; also to MoNTBKiiTiA or Tkit6nia, &c. 



ScMz6stylis coccinea, from South Africa, lately introduced : not very 

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

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

 spreading from a naiTow tube ; the slender style deeply cleft (whence the name) 

 into 3 thread-like branches. 



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

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

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



1. IRIS, TLOWER-DE-LUCE, BLUE FLAG. (Greek and Latin my- 

 thological name, and name of the rainbow. ) El. spring and early summer. 



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

 * Dwarf, with simple very short stems {or only leafy tufts), 1 - S-flowered in early 

 spring, fiom creeping and branching slender rootstocks, hei'e and there ,tub^' 

 ous-thickened : flowers violet-blue, with a long slender tube, and no beard. 

 I. v6rna. Slender Dwarf-Iris. Wooded hillsides, from 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 

 erestless. 



I. cristd.ta. Crested D. Along the AUeghanies, &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. 



