636 IRIDACE.E sisyrinchium 



S. occidental e Bicknell 1. c. 447. Glaucescent to pale glaucous-green, 

 usually with a yellowish tinge: stems 7-12 inches high, stiff and erect, 

 constricted just below the spathe: leaves firm and erect, very acute, much 

 shorter than the stems, a line wide: spathes erect or slightly deflexed, the 

 bracts often rather thin, the outer one mostly straight, the inner one more 

 or less convex in outline; outer bract 1-2 inches long, longer than the inner 

 one, attenuate, acute, hyaline-margined below: flowers 3-6, deep violet- 

 blue, on erect exserted pedicels: capsule subglobose, about 3 lines high. 

 Idaho to Nevada and N. Dakota. 



S. septentrionale Bicknell 1. c. 452. Pale and glaucescent: stems 

 5-12 inches high growing in small tufts: leaves 5-8 inches long, stiff and 

 erect, less than a line wide, mostly setaceous : spathes small, often partly 

 double, one or more flowers arising from between the short proper spathes 

 and the closely subtending slenderly prolonged outer bract ; inner bract 

 10-12 lines long, mostly attenuate and acute ; the outer bract 1-2 inches 

 long : flowers very small, apparently not more than 3 or 4, on erect pedicels 

 usually shorter than the inner bract: segments of the perianth 3-5 lines 

 long, acuminate and short-aristate, not refuse, pale rose or violet: capsule 

 subglobose, 2-3 lines long. Eastern Washington and Idaho to Assiniboia. 



S. Idahoense Bicknell 1. c. 445. Pale-green and glaucous : stems 10- 

 18 inches high straight and erect, or somewhat flexuously curved, often 

 twisted, mostly simple: leaves 5-15 inches high, varying from thin and 

 somewhat lax to firm and closely erect, 1-2 lines wide, attenuate to some- 

 what abruptly acute : spathes often deflexed, long and narrow, the keel of 

 one or both often serrulate or hispidulous; outer one 1)^-3 inches long, 

 commonly 34-/13 longer than the inner one: flowers 3-6, on erect pedicels, 

 deep violet-blue with rather small yellow eye : segments of the perianth 

 7-10 lines long : ovary glandular-puberulent : capsule globose or ovoid, 2-3 

 lines high. Washington to Idaho and California. 



S. sarmentosa Suksdorf in Herb. Greene Eryth. iii, 121. Dull green 

 and glaucescent, growing in dense tufts : stems very slender, erect or as- 

 cending, 6-10 inches high, simple or with a leaf and branch or a tuft of 

 leaves and branches near the top: leaves very narrow, equalling or shorter 

 than the stems, attenuate, acute : spathes erect, the bracts very unequal, 

 the outer one 1^-3 inches long, acuminate, rather abruptly acute, the in- 

 ner one 6-18 lines long: flowers 1-3, bright blue : segments of the perianth 

 4-5 lines long, not emarginate but abruptly contracted into the short aris- 

 tate tip: capsule thin-walled, subglobose, 2-3 lines high. Borders of wet 

 meadows, Skamania Co. Washington. 



* * Scapes with a solitary sessile spathe: filaments united only at 

 base : anthers linear, sagittate. 



■*- Scapes 2-edged : flowers yellow : style very deeply cleft. 



S. Californicum Ait. f. Hort Kew. iv, 135. Scapes broadly winged, 

 6-15 inches high: leaves much shorter than the scapes, 2-3 lines wide : 

 bracts of the spathe more or less unequal, the longer about equalling the 

 pedicels: flowers 3-7, bright yellow; segments of the perianth 4-6 lines 

 long, 5-7-nerved, obtuse or acutish : anthers 1% lines long, about equalling 

 the filaments: style cleft to below the middle, the linear branches as long 

 as the anthers : capsule obovate-oblong, 4 lines long: seeds half a line in 

 diameter. Along the coast, Vancouver Island to California, in various 

 forms. 



-*- ■+- Scapes compressed but not margined : flowers large, purple : 

 style cleft at the apex. 



S. grail dill or urn Dougl. Lindl. Bot. Reg. xvi, t. 1364. Glabrous and 

 bright green: scapes slender, 4-12 inches high, growing in dense tufts or 



