300 lEIDACEAE (IRIS FAMILY) 



broad, flattened on the sides, the rhaphe not apparent. — Wet places, Nfd. to Man. 

 and south w. May-July. 



2. I. setbsa Pall., var. canadensis Foster. Stems slender, terete, 1.5-5 dm 

 high, mostly flecked at base with purplish ; leaves bright green, strongly nerved 

 0.5-1 cm. broad ; flowers short-pediceled, strongly marked with white toward 

 the center ; the inconspicuous involute or tubular pointed petals J as long as the 

 sepals; style-branches with spreading lobes; capsM?esubcylindric or ovoid, blunt 

 or barely mucronate, the thin elastic walls pale, flecked with purple, the angles 

 obtuse or rounded; seeds 2-3.5 mm. broad, with plump sides and prominent 

 rhaphe. (I. jHboifcen Penny.)— Seabeaches and headlands. Lab. and Nfd. to 

 the lower St. Lawrence ; and along the coast to e. Me. June, July. 



2. Seeds in 1 row in each cell. 



3. I. carolinillna Wats. Tall (1 m. or less high); leaves bright green, soft, 

 1-3 cm. broad ; flowers subsessile or short-pediceled, "lilac, variegated with 

 yellow, purple and brown ;" petals more than half the length of the sepals; 

 seeds, with flattened sides, 8-10 mm. broad. ^ Swamps, s. Va. to Ga. and La. 

 June. 



a a. Ovary and capsule sharply angled. 



4. I. prismitica Pursh. (Slender Blue Flag.) Stem very slender, terete, 

 2.5-9 dm. high, from a slender rootstock ; leaves narrowly linear (3-7 mm. 

 wide); flowers slender-pediceled (4-6 cm. long), the tube extremely short; 

 ovary 3-angled. — Marshes near the coast, K S. to Ga. June, July. 



= = Flowers brown or yellow. 



5. I. fulva Ker. Stem and leaves as in no. 1 ; flowers copper-colored or dull 

 reddish-brown, variegated with blue and green ; petals widely ^reading; tube 

 cylindrical, as long as the 6-angled ovary ; style-branches narrow. — Swamps, 

 s. 111. and Mo. to La. and Ga. May. 



I. pseddAcorus L., the Yellow Inis of European marshes, with several very 

 long linear leaves, bright yellow beardless flowers, and erect petals, is becoming 

 established in N. E., N. Y., and N. J. 



I. ORiENTiLis Mill. (7. ochroleuca L.), an Asiatic species, with stem-leaves 

 few and reduced, and pale-yellow or whitish flowers, is freely cultivated, and 

 tends to become naturalized in marshes on the coast of Ct. (Jfrs. M. E. 



■" -H- Spathes mostly sut>sessile or on inconspicuous peduncles in the axils of the 

 upper conspicuous leaves ; flowers large, blue-violet. 



6. I. hexdgona Walt. Stem terete, flexuous, 3-9 dm. tall ; leaves green, not 

 glaucous, the upper very elongated and much overtopping the flowers, 1-3 cm. 

 broad ; flowers mostly axillary, resembling those of no. 1, but larger ; capsule 

 very firm, 6-angled, short-beaked ; seeds in 2 rows in each cell. (/. foliosa 

 Mack. & Bush.) — Rich low woods and shores, local, O. to Mo., and southw. 

 to S. C, Fla., and Tex. May, June. 



+- t- Claw and lower part of blade of sepals beaded. 



7. ji, sermAnica L. (Fleur-de-lis.) Leaves broad, glaucous ; spathes 2-3- 

 iiowered ; perianth-tube greenish, cylindrical ; sepals dark violet-purple, pendent 

 with bright yellow beard ; petals equaling the sepals in length and breadth, lilac ; 

 capsule trigonous. — Established in Va. and W. Va. (Introd. from Eu.) 



* * Stems low (0.5-1.5 dm. high), from tufted and creeping slender (or here and 

 there tuberous-thickened) rootstocks, 1-3-flowered; tube of the perianth 

 long and slender; the violet-blue sepals and petals nearly equal. 

 L^ 8. I. vfirna L. (DwAKif Iris.) Leaves linear, grass-like (3-10 mm. wide), 

 rather glaucous ; the thread-like tube about the length of the sepals and petals, 

 which are oblong-obovate and on slender claws, the sepals slightly hairy down 

 the orange-yellow base, crestless; capsule obtusely triangular. — Wooded hill- 

 sides, Pa. to Ky., and southw. Apr., May. — Flowers sometimes white with 

 yellowish center. 



