iris IRIDACE^ 635 



SISYRINCH1UM 



slender, terete, naked or with 1 or 2 leaves, 6 inches to 2 feet high, usually 

 2-flowered : leaves two to three lines broad, mostly shorter than the stems: 

 bracts dilated and scarious, 1-1>£ inches long, acute or acuminate: flowers 

 pale blue, on pedicels %-2 inches long,: tube of the perianth 3-4 lines long, 

 narrowed below: outer segments %-%% inches long, the inner ones a little 

 shorter, all with narrow claws: anthers not exceeding the filaments, equalling 

 or exceeding the stigmas: capsule oblong, triangular or subterete, 1-2 inches 

 long, acute at each end: seeds obovate, acute at base, 2 lines long. Eastern 

 Washington to California and the Rocky Mountains, 



2 SISYRINCHIUM L. Sp. 954. 



Perennial herbs with short rootstocks, simple or branched 

 stems, narrow grass-like leaves and showy flowers in small ter- 

 minal clusters on filiform pedicels subtended by a pair of erect 

 green bracts. Perianth 6-parted, the segments similar and 

 spreading. Stamens 3, the filaments united, at least at base. 

 Stigmas filiform, alternate with the stamens, involute. Ovary 

 3-celled, with several ovules in each cell. Capsule globose, oval 

 or ovoid. Seeds subglobose or ovoid, smooth or pitted. 



* Stems ancipital, usually branched: flowers blue: filaments united 

 to the top: anthers short, sagittate: stigmas short. 



S. bellum Watson Proc. Am. Acad, xii, 277. Stems 6-20 inches 

 high, somewhat scabrous on the narrow margins, of a single node, or often 

 with 2 or 3 nodes, each node bearing 1-4 peduncles: leaves a line or two 

 wide, shorter than the stems: peduncles 2-4 inches long, usually about equal- 

 ling the nodal bract: spathes of 2 nearly equal bracts 6-12 lines long,- scabrous 

 on the keel, 4-7 flowered: segments of the perianth broad-lanceolate, about 

 6 lines long, truncate but scarcely emarginate, shortly aristulate, light purple, 

 darker below and yellow at base, somewhat pubescent as well as the ovary: 

 staminal column 3 lines long, purplish, pubescent at base, : capsule depressed- 

 globose or ovoid, 2 -3 lines long; the cells about 10-seeded: seeds irregularly 

 and obtusely angled, roughened, % of a line in diameter. In wet places, 

 Oregon to California. 



S. segetum Bicknell Bull. Torr Bot. Club xxvi, 449. Rather pale 

 green and somewhat glaucescent, growing in close tufts: stems erect, slender, 

 4-11 inches high, simple: leaves 4-6 inches long, a line or less wide, some- 

 times roughish toward the setaceous or aculeate apex: spathes stiffly erect, 

 the outer bract very slenderly attenuate, sometimes for fully half its length, 

 1-1% inch long, subequal with or surpassing the inner one by % or more: 

 flowers on very slender subspreading pedicels, deep violet-blue : segments of 

 the perianth oblanceolate, obtuse aristulate, 6-7 lines long; capsule oblong 

 or obovoid, transversely corrugated, many-seeded: seeds irregularly obovoid, 

 less than a line long. On dry grassy plains, Washington and Oregon to 

 Nevada. 



S. angustifolium Mill. Gard. Diet, ed 7, 1859. Pale glaucous-green : 

 stems slender 4-20 inches high, of a single node, or rarely forked: leaves 

 rigid and often almost setaceous, 4-8 inches long, 3^-1% lines wide, shorter 

 than the stem: spathes stiffly erect, the bracts very unequal, the outer one 

 usually about twice as long as the inner: pedicels erect, about 8 lines long, 

 shorter than the bracts: segments of the perianth oblanceolate, emarginate, 

 6-8 lines long, pale blue : capsule subglobose, 2-3 lines in diameter : seeds 

 Y<i-% line in diameter. On grassy plains, Oregon to Brit. Columbia and 

 Virginia . 



