Iris. 



IRTDACEtE. 



291 



2. Iris Virginica, Linn. Slender Blue Flag. 



Stem terete, slender ; leaves narrowly linear ; flowers beardless ; ovary 3-sided, with pro- 

 minent angles, each side deeply 2-grooved ; capsule triangular, acute at each end. — Linn, 

 sp. 1. p. 39 ; Muhl. cat. p. 4 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 36. I. prismatica, Pursh, fl. 1. p. 30 ; Bigel. 

 fl. Bost. p. 16 ; Bart. fl. N. Am. 3. t. 85 ; Beck, hot. p. 353. I. gracilis, Bigel. fl. Bost. 

 (ed. 1.) p. 12. 



Rhizoma horizontal, tuberous. Stem 1^-3 feet high, somewhat flexuous, solid. Leaves 

 about one-fourth or one-third of an inch wide. Flowers 1 - 3 at the summit of the stem, 

 blue, veined with yellow in the middle, about as large as those of /. versicolor, but more 

 delicate. Outer segments of the perianth broadly spatulate ; inner ones narrower and more 

 lanceolate. The ovary is, by Bigelow, well compared to "a cylinder with three smaller ones 

 attached to its sides." Capsule distinctly triangular. 



Borders of brackish marshes, Long Island. Fl. June. This plant was sent by Muhlen- 

 berg to Sir James E. Smith, who pronounced it I. Virginica of the Linnagan herbarium. 

 The I. Virginica of most botanists is a mere variety of versicolor. 



2. SISYRINCHIUM. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 1220. BLUE-EYED GRASS. 



[From the Greek, sus, a hog, and rhynchos, a snout ; because it was supposed that hogs were fond of rooting it up.] 



Spathe 2-leaved, bract-like. Perianth colored, regular ; the limb flat, 6-lobed : tube short. 

 Filaments usually monadelphous below. Style short : stigmas 3, filiform and involute. 

 Capsule pedicellate, roundish-triangular, membranaceous. — Roots mostly fibrous. Stem 

 ancipital. Leaves equitant. Flowers small. 



I. Sisyrinchium Bermudiana, Linn. Common Blue-eyed Grass. 



Scape winged, simple or somewhat branched above ; leaves narrow and grass-like ; spathe 

 2-valved, the valves mucronate. — Linn. sp. 2. p. 954. 



var. 1. Stem broadly winged ; valves of the spathe nearly equal, shorter than the flowers. 

 — S. Bermudiana, Michx. fl. 2. p. 33; Ell. sk. 2. p. 152. S. anceps, " Cavan. diss. 6. 

 p. 345," ex Pursh, fl. p. 31 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 256 ; Torr. fl. 1. 42 ; Beck, hot. p. 354 ; 

 Darlingt. fl. Cest. p. 13. S. gramineum, Lam. enc. 1. p. 403? ; Bot. mag. t. 464. 



var. 2. Stem narrowly winged ; valves of the spathe very unequal (often colored), the outer 

 one longer than the flowers. — S. mucronatum, Michx. I. c. ; Pursh, I. c. ; Ell. sk. I. c. ; 

 Torr. fl. 1. c. ; Beck, I. c. ; Darlingt. I. c. 



Root fibrous. Stems somewhat cespitose, about a foot high, slender, with a winged margin 

 on each side, which is broader in var. 1 ; when branched, there is a linear bracteal leaf at the 

 bifurcation. Leaves mostly radical or nearly so, variable in breadth, but usually about 2 lines 

 wide ; sometimes (particularly in var. 2) almost setaceous. Spathe 2-leaved, equitant ; the 



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