Descriptive Flora 



69 



Cooperia pedunculata Herb. Rain Lily. Prairie Lily. 



Fragrant, solitary, lily-like, white flowers, turning pink 

 with age, 1 to 2" across when open, singly terminating slender 

 flower stalks (6 to 14" long) that come directly out of the ground 

 following heavy rains. Leaves all basal, grass-like, thick, firm, 

 parallel- veined, smooth, 5 to 12" long, coming from a large, thick, 

 onion-like bulb y 2 to liy 2 " across and about as long. Stamens 6, 

 almost hidden in the tube of the perianth. These sweet-scented 

 lilies are the joy of every San Antonio door-yard, city field, and 

 wayside. As they flash across and through the grass under 

 trees or out in the dim distance, they look like long rays of white 

 light. Differs from Wild onion and Crow poison in the very 

 large bulb, longer leaves, and one large blossom terminating each 

 stalk. 



Cooperia drummondii Herb. 



Similar to Cooperia pedunculata in general appearance and 

 in the habit of blossoming following rains. But bulbs blossom 

 later, usually in the fall, the flowers are smaller (only about y 2 

 the size of Cooperia pedunculata), flower-stalk usually more 

 slender and taller (6 — 18"), tube of perianth longer (2y 2 — 5" 

 long as compared to 1 — l 1 /^"), and lobes of the perianth y 2 — %" 

 long instead of 1 — iy 2 Blossoms do not turn pink until they 

 are withered. In lawns and waste places. Summer to fall. 



IRIDACEAE. Iris Family. 



IXIACEAE. Iris Family. In Small's Flora. 

 Nemastylis acuta (Bart.) Herb. Celestials. 



These beautiful, large, delicate blue lilies bloom one at a 

 time on flattened stems that come out of a grass-like sheath. 

 Leaves few, long, grass-like, conspicuously plaited lengthwise. 

 Flowers few, bright delicate blue, showy, iy 2 to 2" across. Petals 

 and sepals 3 each, alike in color, unequal, slightly white at base. 

 Stamens three, with long anthers that twist and coil with age. 



