832 



THE IRIS FAMILY. 



Rootstock bulbous. Scapes 1 -flowered. 



Perianth-tube very short. Stigmas deeply 2-cleft 

 Perianth-tube longer than the segments. Stigmas 



4. Trichonema. 



ja* 



s:ed 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 

 Iris family. 



I. IRIS. IRIS. 



Hootstock thick and horizontal, or rarely bulbous. Leaves equitant. 

 Flowers large and showy ; the 3 outer perianth-segments large, spread- 

 ing 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 1. Yelloio I. 



Flowers violet-blue or yellowish-white. Inner segments two- 

 thirds as long as the outer ones 2. Fetid I. 



Several continental European species are frequent in our flower- 

 gardens, and occasionally escape into neighbouring waste places, 

 especially the large-flowered I susiana and I. germanica, the dwarf 

 I. pumila, the bulbous-rooted I. XijpMum and I. xi/pliioides, the I. tu- 

 berosa, etc. 



1. Yellow Iris. Iris Pseudacorus, Linn. (Fig. 1003.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 578. Yellow Flag.) 



Rootstock thick, horizontal, with nu- 

 merous fibres. Stem about 2 feet high. 

 Lower leaves often much longer and 1 or 

 2 inches broad, stiff and erect, of a pale 

 glaucous-green ; the upper ones much 

 shorter. Flowers 2 or 3, each proceed- 

 ing from a sheathing bract, large, erect, 

 of a bright yellow. Outer perianth-seg- 

 ments spreading, broadly ovate, fully 2 

 inches long, contracted at the base into 

 an erect, broad claw ; inner segments 

 oblong and erect, scarcely longer than 

 the claws of the others. Petal-like 

 stigmas rather longer than the inner 

 segments, 2-cleft at the top, with a short, 

 scale-like appendage inside at the base 

 of the lobes. Capsule green, 2 to 3 

 inches long, with numerous pale-brown 

 Fig. 1003. seeds. 





