110 IRIDACEAE. 



year by a terminal bud to an erect stem, which is branched above and leafy. 

 Leaves sessile, ovate, thin, transversely-veined between the primary nerves. 

 Flowers greenish or white, drooping on a terminal peduncle, solitary or few 

 in an umbel. Perianth campanulate, deciduous. Filaments attached within 

 the anthers, above the base. Fruit a berry. (Greek di, two, and spora, seed, 

 some species with two seeds in each ovary cell.) 



Flowers greenish, Y^ in. long; style glabrous, entire; leaves mostly cordate at base 



1. D. hooker x. 



Flowers whitish, 24 to 1 in. long; style densely short-hairy, slightly 3-cleft at apex; 



leaves mostly rounded or subcordate at base 2. D. menziesii. 



1. D. hookeri (Torr.) Britton. Fairy Bells. Koughish pubescent, 1 

 to 2^4 ft. high; leaves ovate, cordate at base, abruptly acute or attenuate, 

 l 1 /^ to 3 in. long, the uppermost somewhat oblique; perianth green, narrowly 

 campanulate, 5 to 6 lines long, the tips of the segments spreading; stamens 

 equaling or exceeding the perianth; berry obovate, obtuse, scarlet. — (Pro- 

 sartes hookeri Torr.) 



Shady woods of the Coast Eanges: Santa Cruz Mts. ; Oakland Hills; Mt. 

 Diablo; Marin Co.; Glen Ellen; Napa Range. 



2. D. menziesii (Don.) Britton. Fairy Lantern. Soft-pubescent or 

 almost glabrous; stems 1 to 3 ft. high; leaves ovate, or sometimes round-ovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate, rounded or subcordate (and often a little oblique) at 

 base, at apex acuminate-attenuatef 2 to 4 in. long; perianth^ whitish, broad and 

 cup-shaped at base, % to 1 in. long, the tips of the segments erect; stamens 

 % shorter than the perianth; style densely short-hairy, except at the Aery base, 

 slightly 3-cleft at apex; fruit yellow, oblong-obovate, attenuate above into a 

 short beak, % in. long. — (Prosartes menziesii Don.) 



Stream banks, Coast Range woods: San Mateo Co. to Mt. Tamalpais, In- 

 verness, and Westport; north to British Columbia. 



22. ASPARAGUS L. 



Stems from rootstocks, very much branched and with filiform branchlets 

 clustered in the axils of the scaly leaves. Flowers small, solitary or in umbels 

 or racemes. Perianth-segments alike, distinct or slightly united, the stamens 

 inserted on their bases. Ovary 3-celled, with 2 ovules in each cell; style short, 

 stigmas 3, recurved. Fruit a globose berry. (Ancient Greek name.) 



1. A. officinalis L. Asparagus. Stems tall and branching, 3 to 5 ft. 

 high, when young stout, succulent and edible; clustered branchlets 4 to 8 

 lines long; flowers green, pendulous on jointed peduncles; perianth campanu- 

 late, 3 lines long, with included stamens; berry red, 4 lines in diameter. 



Garden plant escaped to low lands about Alameda. 



IRIDACEAE. Iris Family. 



Perennial herbs, ours low, with stout stems and 2-ranked sword-like and 

 sheathing leaves. Inflorescence terminal. Flowers perfect, with petal-like 

 perianth of 6 divisions in 2 whorls. Stamens on the base of the outer whorl, 

 with eztrorse anthers. Ovary inferior, 3-lobed, becoming a 3-celled capsule. 



Stems terete; divisions of the perianth in two unlike whorls 1. Iris. 



Sttins 2-edged or -winged; divisions of the perianth alike 2. Sisyrinchium. 



1. IRIS L. Flag. 



Stems terete, from creeping stout rootstocks. Flowers in the axils of 

 spathaceous bracts. Perianth-tube prolonged beyond the ovary; outer seg- 



