634 IRIDACE^: mis 



I. bracteata Watson Proc. Am. Acad, xx, 375. Stems rather stout, 

 6-12 inches high, covered with imbricated sheathing bracts 2-4 inches long: 

 leaves solitary, evergreen, rigid 1-2 feet long, 6-8 lines wide, or sometimes 

 much smaller, striate, one side green, the other glaucous with numerous 

 stomata: bracts of the spathe approximate: 2-3 iuches long, short-acuminate 

 usually 2-flowered: perianth yellow, with a short funnelform tube: outer 

 segments oblong, naked, 2-3 inches long, the inner ones oblanceolate, some- 

 what shorter: capsule on'exserted pedicels, ovate- oblong, an inch long. In 

 open forests, about Waldo, southern Oregon. 



I. Douglasiana Herbert, H. & A. Bot Beech. 395. Stems stout, 6-18 

 inches high: leaves linear, 12-30 inches long, 4-8 lines broad, thick and rather 

 rigid; long acuminate, finely striate: bracts of the spathe lanceolate, 3-4 lines 

 long, acuminate flowers several, somewhat panicled, on pedicels 6-18 lines 

 long: perianth blue or purplish, the outer segments with a white centre veined 

 with purple, its tube narrow, 6-12 lines long: capsule oblong, acutely triang- 

 ular, 18-20 lines long: seeds nearly globular. Along the coast, southern 

 Oregon to California. 



* * Tube of the perianth short and funnelform above the ovary, 



Rootstock slender: stems leafy: leaves not evergreen: bracts folia- 

 ceous, separate and often distant. 



1. tenuis Watson Proc. Am. Acad, xvii, 380. Rootstock very slender 

 and creeping: stems 8-10 inches high, with 2 or 3 bract-like leaves 2-S inches 

 long, 2-flowered: the longer leaves of the sterile branches of the rootstock 

 equalling the stem and 4-6 lines broad, acuminate and very acute: bracts 

 contiguous or distant, 1-2 inches long, flowers white, lightly blotched and 

 striped with pale yellow and purple: perianth tube 2-3 lines long, the seg- 

 ments naked, the outer 15 lines long, a little exceeding the emarginate inner 

 ones: capsule depressed -globose, 6 lines in diameter, on pedicels as long or 

 longer than the bracts. In the Cascade Mountains along the Clackamas river 

 and its tributaries in Oregon. 



I. tenax Dougl. Bot. Reg. t. 1218. Rootstock slender, usually short 

 and forming dense tufts 6-18 inches in diameter: stems slender 6-12 inches 

 high, bearing several sheath-like short leaves and a single purple flower: 

 leaves very numerous, 12-20 inches long, much longer than the stems, about 

 2 lines broad acuminate and mostly very acute: bracts lanceolate, acute: 12 

 inches long: tube of the perianth very short, its outer segments 2 inches long 

 or more, with oblong blade and broad claw, the inner ones spatulate and 

 nearly as long: capsule oblong, 8-12 lines long, obtuse at both ends: seeds 

 scarcely flattened, somewhat angled obtusely. Common in open places, Brit. 

 Columbia to Oregon. There is a white flowered form with narrow perianth, and 

 narrower ovary but it has scarcely enough characters for a species. 



-*- +- Rootstock stout: stems naked or nearly so , usually tall: bracts 

 contiguous or rarely separated. 



I. longipetala Herbert H. & ^. Bot. Beech. 369. Stems stout, 1-1K 

 feet high, 3-5. flowered : leaves about as high, 3-5 lines broad: bracts foliace- 

 ous, large and acuminate, 3-4 inches long: flowers very large, bright lilac, on 

 stoufc pedicels 1-2 inches long, the tube funnelform, 3 lines long, outer seg- 

 ments 2)^-3 inches long by 1-1% broad, narrowed to a short claw, white 

 below and veined with violet, the midvein yellow: inner segments oblanceo- 

 late, 2 inches long: anthers shorter than the stigmas: style broadly crested: 

 capsule oblong, narrowed at each end, 2 inches long: seeds flattened, nearly 3 

 lines long. In moist meadows, eastern Washington to California. 



I. Missouriensis Nutt. Journ. Acad. Philad. vii, 58. Stems rather 



