IRIS FAMILY. Ill 



ments or sepals obovate above the claw, spreading or recurved; inner segments 

 or petals narrower, erect. Style divided into 3 petal-like branches, each branch 

 with 2 lobes or appendages at summit; stigma a small projecting shelf (stig- 

 matic only on the upper surface) situated on the lower surface of the branch 

 just below the lobes or appendages. Stamens with linear anthers lying close 

 beneath the branches of the style, i. e., opposite them. Capsule oblong, 3- 

 angled. Seeds flattened or turgid, in 2 rows in each cell. (Greek iris, the 

 rainbow, the Greek species of the genus being celebrated for its brilliant colors. 

 I. hartwegii Baker, of the Sierra Nevada in the Sugar Pine belt, may be 

 known by its separate often distant bracts, leafy stems and India-yellow flowers ; 

 the following species have the bracts of the spathe closely approximate.) 



Flowers 3 to 5 in a cluster, pale violet or the sepals white, veined with purple; perianth- 

 tube 3 lines long LI. longipetala. 



Flowers 2 or 3 in a cluster, cream-color or azure; perianth-tube 6 to 12 lines long 



2. /. douglasiana. 

 Flowers 1 or 2 in a cluster, violet; perianth-tube l l / 2 to 2 Z A in. long.... 3. I. macrosiphon. 



1. I. longipetala Herbert. Leaves 10 to 22 in. long, 4 to 6 lines broad, 

 equaling or rather exceeding the flower-peduncles; pedicels : )4 to 1% in. long; 

 bracts scarious at apex, 2% to 4 in. long, % to 1% in. broad (when spread out) ; 

 sepals white, veined with violet or violet above, 3 in. long, l x /4 to 1% in. 

 broad, narrowed to a short claw, the claw with a very prominent ventral ridge 

 which disappears in the middle of the blade; petals light violet, 2% in. long, 

 6 or 7 lines wide; anthers 8 lines long; lobes above the stigma broader and 

 more obtuse than in no. 3, more evidently overlapping; capsule narrowed at 

 each end, 2 in. long. 



Pt. Isabel (Contra Costa Co.) and about San Francisco, where it is very 

 common; thence southward to Monterey. 



2. I. douglasiana Herbert. Stem l 1 /! to 2 ft. high, much exceeded by the 

 (4 to 6% lines wide) radical leaves; bracts broader and less acuminate than in 

 the next; flowers 2 or 3 in a pair of bracts, mostly cream-color or azure; the 

 pedicels 1 in. long; perianth-tube 6 to 12 lines long; sepals 2 in. long or more; 

 capsule narrowly oblong, 1% to 2 in. long. 



Common in the Coast Eanges from the Vaca Mts. and Mendocino Co. south- 

 ward to San Mateo Co. May-June. The color of the flowers is exceedingly 

 variable, but the species may be known from the next by its long pedicels, 

 shorter perianth-tube and stouter habit. 



3. I. macrosiphon Torr. Ground Iris. Stems low and slender, much 

 shorter than the leaves which are 5 to 10 in. long and 2 lines broad; bracts 

 lanceolate, long acuminate, 2% to 3% in. long; flowers 1 or 2, very shortly 

 pediceled, with slender tube 1% to 2% in. long; perianth violet-purple; sepals 

 oblong-obovate, their lower or middle portion blotched or veined with white, the 

 margin above often undulate, about 1% in. long; petals oblanceolate, of a uni- 

 form color; anthers 6 lines long; capsule about 1 in. long. 



San Mateo and Marin cos. northward. Apr. ' ' For nets and snares the 

 Hupas make twine and rope from the leaves" (P. E. Goddard). 



2. SISYRINCHIUM L. Blue-eyed Grass. 

 Glabrous plants. Stems slender, 2-edged or winged, often geniculate, from 

 fibrous roots, with grass-like or lanceolate leaves and fugacious, relatively small 

 flowers in umbels enclosed by 2 sheathing herbaceous bracts, with a scarious 

 bractlet subtending each pedicel. Perianth 6-parted, the divisions alike, 

 spreading. Stamens monadelphous, their anthers alternate with the branches 



