448 | THE ORCHID FAMILY. [ Cypripedium. 
very large and inflated, compared to a slipper, yellow, variegated with 
purple. Column very much shorter than the petals. 
In woods, in Russian Asia, and eastern Europe, almost to the Arctic 
Circle, rarer over western Europe. In Britain, found only in Durham and 
Yorkshire. FU. early summer. | 
LXXXII. IRIDEA, THE IRIS FAMILY. 
Perennial herbs, with a bulbous, tuberous, or shortly creeping 
rootstock, and leaves usually either radical or equitant, that is, 
arranged on opposite sides of the stem, and vertically, not hori- 
zontally flattened, opening towards the base in a sheath which 
embraces the stem. Perianth superior, with 6 petal-like seg- 
ments. Stamens 3, Ovary inferior, 3-celled, with many ovules. 
Style 1, with 3 stigmas (or stigmatic lobes), sometimes dilated 
and petal-like or fringed. 
A rather large family, widely spread over the globe, but particularly 
abundant in southern Africa and other dry sunny climates. It differs from 
the Amaryllis family in the number of stamens, and, in most cases, in the 
position of the leaves. 
Leaves on the stem, equitant. 
Perianth with 3 outer large segments, and 3 inner small ones. 
Stigmas large and petal-like, arching over the stamens . 1. IRIs. 
Perinnth with 6 nearly similar segments, but oblique, and 
arranged almost in two lips . 
Leaves radical, narrow-linear. Perianth- segments nearly equal 
and regular. 
Rootstock tufted or fibrous. Flowers 2 or more in a terminal 
cluster or umbel. Stigmas entire : : : d . 3. SISYRINCHIUM. 
Rootstock bulbous. Scapes 1-flowered. 
Perianth-tube very short. Stigmas deeply 3-cleft 
Perianth-tube longer than the segments. Stigmas j 
or much divided . . . : - : : . 5. CRocUS. 
The Ixias, Tigridias, and many others of the smaller South African 
bulbs, formerly much more cultivated than they now are, belong to the 
Tris family. 
I. IRIS. IRIS. 
Rootstock thick and horizontal, or rarely bulbous. Leaves equitant. 
Flowers large and showy; the 3 outer perianth-segments large, spreading 
or reflexed; the 3 inner ones much smaller, and erect. Stigmas 3, enlarged, 
each with a petal-like appendage, which arches over the corresponding 
stamen and outer segment of the perianth. 
A considerable genus, widely spread over the northern hemisphere. 
Flowers bright yellow. Inner perianth-segments scarcely as 
long as the claw of the outer ones . : : : : . 
Flowers violet-blue or yellowish-white. Inner segments two- 
thirds as long as the outer ones : : ‘ y ‘ . 2 LI. fetidissima. 
Several continental European species are frequent in our flower-gardens, 
and occasionally escape into neighbouring waste places, especially the large- 
flowered I. sustzana and I. germanica, the dwarf I. pumila, the bulbous- 
rooted I, Xiphium and I. xiphioides, the I. tuberosa, etc. 
2. GLADIOLUS. 
‘ . 4. ROMULEA. 
agged 
1. LI. Pseudacorus. 
