40 Iris prismaticcii 



sheathing, ventricose, acuminate. Germ obscurely prismatic, small, 

 rarely exceeding during inflorescence, a quarter or half an inch, 

 swelling and becoming elongated soon after the flower fades, and 

 finally becoming a large, distinct, prismatic capsule. Flowers campa- 

 nula purple, smaller than those of the generality of the species. Petals 

 spathulate, obtuse, paler and often white towards the base. Stigmas 

 linear, incurved. Grows in damp places in the vicinity of water 

 courses, sometimes but rarely found in exsiccated thickets. Not com- 

 mon, nor verv abundant where found. Flowers in July. 



The genus Iris is the ipn of the ancient Greeks, so named from the 

 various, and somewhat concentric hues of the flowers, which give an 

 idea of the rain-bow. The modern Greeks call it %pn»r, and the Turks 

 susen, both which words arc synonymous with the English word lily, 

 and the French fleur-de-lis. 



The present species was first particularly described by Pursh. It had 

 previously been confounded with his Virginica, under which name 

 it stands in the catalogue and borders of Kingsessing or Bartram's 

 Gardens. In the neighbourhood of this city it is found near Kaighn's 

 point on the Jersey side of the Delaware — it is occasionally met with 

 along the banks of the Schuylkill a little south of Bartram's gardens. 



The table represents a flowering portion of its natural size, the 

 radical leaves however, being four times as long as the largest of the 

 figure. 



