IRIS PRISMATICA. 



PRISM-CAPSULED IRIS. 



Tetrandria 3Ionogynia, Linn. Irides, Juss. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Corolla 6-parted, large ; three of the lamina erect; the other three reflected, with or 

 without a crest or beard on the inner side, and bearing the stamina at their 

 base. Style short. Stigmata 3, petaloid, oblong, large, usually arched. Sta- 

 mina incumbent, covered by the stigmata. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, many- 

 seeded. Seeds flat, triangular, (in some species nearly round or spherical.) 

 Nutt. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Flowers beardless ; stem solid, round, as long as the leaves ; leaves very narrow 

 and long ; capsule long, in the form of a prism, narrowed at each end. Pursh. 



Root perennial, resembling the roots of other species of this na- 

 tural genus. Stems very numerous, about two or three feet high, solid, 

 round, smooth, slender, erect, somewhat tortuous, diverging from a 

 right line at the joints where the leaves originate. Leaves smooth, 

 linear, and grass-like, numerous, very long, particularly those arising 

 from the root, terminating for the most part in a sphacelated acunii- 

 nation. Flowers terminal, solitary, or by pairs, bi-bractcate. Bractcs 



VOL. III. 11 



