834 



THE IRIS FAMILY. 



the stern. Spike of 4 to 6 or 8 red 

 flowers, all turned to one side, and ses- 

 sile between 2 lanceolate bracts. Pe- 

 rianth about 1| inclies long, the expanded 

 part of the segments oblong-lanceo- 

 late, the uppermost broader and rather 

 longer than the others. Anthers linear, 

 shorter than their filaments. Capsule 

 short, depressed at the top, with 3 pro- 

 minent angles. 



In meadows, woods, and grassy heaths, 

 in central and southern Europe, not 

 reaching nearer us on the Continent than 

 the Loire and the Khine. In Britain, 

 recently observed in the New Forest, 

 near Lyndhurst, among the Brakes, and 

 believed to be indigenous, but possibly 

 accidentally introduced. Fl. early sum- 

 mer. The true Cornflag (G. segetum), 

 a cornfield weed, is a rather more southern species, differing chiefly in 

 its larger flowers, with the anthers longer than their filaments. 



Fig. 1005. 



III. SISYRINCHIUM. SISYRINCHIUM. 



Rootstock tufted or fibrous. Leaves grass-like or lanceolate, en- 

 tirely or mostly radical. Flowers delicate, blue. Perianth-segments 

 6, all nearly equal, similar and spreading, the tube short and broad. 

 Stamens united in a tube. Stigmas 3, filiform, undivided, rolled in- 

 wards. 



A considerable genus, almost exclusively American. 



1. Bermuda Sisyrinchium. Sisyrinchium Bermudiana, 



Linn. (Fig. 1006.) 



(S. anceps, Bab. Man.) 



Leaves narrow, grass-like, sheathing at the base, shorter than the 

 stem. Stem 6 inches to 1 foot high, 2-edged, or with 2 narrow acute 

 wings rather broader under the bracts. Flowers 2 to 6 together 

 (usually 3 or 4) in a terminal cluster, the filiform pedicels almost con- 

 cealed within 2 sheathing bracts, of which the outer one often ends in 

 a leafy tip exceeding the flowers, but occasionally both are nearly 

 equal. Fruit a small globular capsule. 



