•214 



POPULAR FLORA. 



101. IRIS FAMILY. Order IRIDACE^. 

 Herbs with perennial roots, commonly with rootstoeks, bulbs, or corms, and with equitant 

 leaves (151, Fig. 64) ; the flowers perfect, regular or irregular; tube of the coroIIa-like 



perianth below coherent 

 with the surface of the 

 ovary, and so appearing 

 to grow from its summit ; 

 stamens only 3, one before 

 each of the outer divis- 

 ions of the perianth ; their 

 anthers turned outwards, 

 i. e. looking towards the 

 perianth and opening on 

 that side. Ovary 3-celled, 

 making a many-seeded 

 pod : style one : stigmas 

 3, often flat or petal-like. 

 Herbage, rootstocks, &c. 

 generally acrid or sharp- 

 tasted. Flowers generally 

 showy, and from a spathe 

 of one or more leaf-like 

 bracts, or from the axils of 

 the uppermost leaves, each 

 one generally opening but 

 once. 



led 



514. Plant cF Cres(eti Dwarf Ins .^15. Top of ihe style nnd tlie 3 pelnl-like etianins 

 Sof the Btaiiiens. 513. Magiiilied ijislil ant] lower pan of the luhe of Ihe peiiauih.di 

 leiiglliwLt.e : the foliage cut away. 517 L<'wer pait of a pod, divided Ciosswise. 51cf. bced. 

 519. Maj^ojjied section of the same, showing the emh.yo 



Filaments monadelphoiis in a tube which enclo.oes the style as in a sheath: stigmas 

 thread-shaped: perianth 6-parted nearly to the ovar}', widely spread- 

 ing, opening in sunshine and for only one day. 



Flowers small, blue or purple, with 6 equal obovate divisions: stigmas simple: stems 

 or scapes fiat or 2-winged, from fibrous roots ; leaves narrow and 

 gi-ass-like, (Sisyrinchium) Blue-eyed-Grass. 



Flowers very large. Orange and spotted with crimson and purple; the 3 inner divisions 

 much smaller and narrowed in the middle: stigmas each 2-clettt: 

 scape terete, from a coated bulb ; leaves plaited, ( TigHdia) *Tigek-flower. 



Filaments separate: stigmas flattened, or petal-like. 



Perianth C-parted down to the ovary, regular and wheel-shaped, the divisions obovate- 

 oblong, all alike, yellow, with darker spots: seeds remaining after the 

 valves of the pod fall, berry-like and black, the whole looking like a 

 blackberry (whence the common name). Stems leafy below, from a 

 rootstock: leaves sword-shaped, (Parddnthus) *Blaokberey-Lilt. 



