ie 

IRIS FAMILY, Jridaceae. 
There are numerous kinds of Sisyrinchium, attractive 
little plants, all American, many from South America; 
with fibrous roots; grasslike leaves; slender, flat stems, 
sometimes branching; papery and green bracts and pretty 
flowers, that soon wither, on very slender pedicels, the six 
spreading divisions all alike; the filaments of the stamens 
united; the style branches slender, the capsule roundish, 
containing round seeds. 
The deep blue stars of this pretty plant 
Blue-Eyed G . 
vty tun are a beautiful feature of the fields near 
Sisyrinchium : 
béllum Santa Barbara, and in other parts of 
pe California, in summer; in fact they are so 
ummer > . 
i Geen plentiful in some places that they are a 
menace to the farmers. They grow in 
clumps, about a foot tall, among the grass. The stems 
are somewhat branching, the leaves are shorter than the 
stem, and the bracts are about an inch long, green and 
sheathing. There are about seven flowers on each stem, in 
a loose cluster, each about an inch across and handsomer 
than their relations in the East. They vary in tint from 
bright blue to purple, with a yellow “‘eye,’’ and their divi- 
sions are prettily notched at the tips, with a little prong. 
The anthers are arrow-shaped, the style short, with three 
very small stigmas, and the small, oddly-shaped, little 
capsule is dark-brown when ripe, and perhaps suggested 
one of the common names, Nigger-babies. It is called 
Azulea and Villela by Spanish-Californians. 
This is very much like Blue-eyed Grass, 
Golden-Eyed = but the flowers are bright yellow, the 
G : 
ence ssieis stems are about a foot tall, broadly winged 
Calijérnicum and not branching, and the leaves are 
Yellow somewhat broader. The pretty flowers 
Spring, summer 
are nearly an inch across and there are 
Cal., Oreg. 
from three to seven in a cluster. The 
filaments are united at the base only, the style is cleft to 
below the middle, and the small capsule is rather oblong. 
This grows in swampy places near the ocean. S. Arizont- 
cum has yellow flowers and branching stems and grows in 
Arizona. S. Elmeri also has yellow flowers, with purple 
lines, and is found in wet places in the Sierras. When 
pressed and dried the yellow-flowered Sisyrinchiums stain 
the paper reddish-purple. 
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