HARPER'S GUIDE TO WILD FLOWERS 



but so variegated with other tints as to be named after the 

 rainbow. The stiff, sword-shape, folded leaves give it a 

 dignity, and in the marshes where it grows it has few peers 

 for loveliness. It is found in wet, low grounds the length 

 of the Atlantic coast. Insect aid is necessary for the fer- 

 tilization of this flower, and the bee, said to be a lover of 

 blue colors, is often seen delving into the honeyed depths 

 of the iris, powdering its head with the pollen, which it 

 carries to another flower. 



Blue-eyed Grass 



Sisyrinchium angustifoUum. — Family, Iris. Color, violet - blue 

 with yellow center. Perianth, of 6 divisions, each bristle-tipped, 

 widely spreading, united in a tube below. Stamens, 3. Styles, 3. 

 Capsule, 3-celled. Stems, 2-edged, flat, sometimes twisted, 3 to 14 

 inches tall, occasionally forking above. Leaves, narrow, about 

 the same width as the stems, grass-like. Flowers, 1 to 3, on short 

 pedicels, from a pair of bracts (the spathes) , one shorter than the 

 other. May to July. 



A common, wide-open flower about f of an inch long, 

 found in low meadows, in rather damp soil, from Newfound- 

 land to Virginia, and westward to Colorado. One of its 

 popular names is blue star. 



S, gramineum. — Color, blue. This species has a smaller blos- 

 som than the last, on a taller stem. Two flowering stems arise 

 from near the top, each bearing in an umbel 3 or more small 

 flowers on slender pedicels. A single leaf subtends the flowers. 

 Other leaves, all grass-like, spring from near the base, their edges 

 rough. 8 to 18 inches tall. April to June. 



Wet meadows, in grassy places on the edges of woods 

 from Massachusetts to Florida and westward. 



Ram's Head Lady's Slipper 



Cypripedium ariettnwn. — Family, Orchis. Color, purplish or 

 crimson veined with white. The 3 sepals, entirely free, are of a 

 brownish pink or purple. They are long and narrow, and curve 

 so as to suggest the horns on a ram's head. Petals, 2 similar. 

 Lip, a pocket or slipper, of a dull purple mottled with white 

 veinings, showing a little green at the toe. Flowers, terminal, 

 single. Stem, 8 to 12 inches high. Leaves, 3 or 4, dark green, 

 ovate or elliptical, 6 to 8 inches long, regularly parallel-veined, 

 pointed. May to August. (See Variegated Flowers, p 371.) 



In cold, moist woods, rare and local, from Main to Massa- 





