152 
MONADELFHIA TRIANDRIA® 
Root fibrous, perennial. Leaves resembling the blades of grass, 4 — -6 
inches long, very narrow, acute, generally tinged with blue at base. Flow- 
er Stem rather longer than the leaves, compressed. Flowers in 2 ? termi- 
nal clusters, each 4 — 5 flowered ; common sheath 2-leaved, compressed, 
acute, unequal, 1 longer than the flowers; partial sheaths small, somewhat 
membranaceous, each enveloping the base of a single peduncle. Pedun- 
cles 5 — 6 lines long. Calyx 0. Petals bright blue, emarginate, mucro- 
nate, expanding. Filaments 3, shorter than the corolla, united into a tube. 
Germ inferior, globose. Style triquetrous, a little longer than the sta- 
mens. Stigma 3, acute. Capsule globose, 3-valved, 3-celled Seeds 
several in^ach cell. 
Grows in meadows and damp land along the range of mountains from 
Pennsylvania to Carolina. 
2. Bermudiana. 
Stem compressed, 
branching, leafy, 
spathes unawned, 
shorter than the flow- 
ers ; petals mucro- 
nate ; leaves ensi- 
form. 
Sp. pi. 3. p. 578. Mich. 2. p. 33. Nutt. 1. p. 25. 
S. Palmifolium ? Walt. 219- 
Root perennial, fibrous. Stem erect, 12 — 18 inches high, generally di- 
vided near the summit into two unequal branches, compressed, striate, ve- 
ry glabrous. Leaves ensiform, very acute, glabrous, shorter than the stem. 
Flowers in terminal clusters ; common spathe 2-leaved, each leaf sheath- 
ing a cluster of 4 or 5 flowers, flowers longer than the sheath, proper 
spathe one small membranaceous leaf at the base of each peduncle. Petals 
6, oval, emarginate, mucronate, hairy, of a very bright azure colour, yel- 
low and united just at the base. Stamens shorter than the corolla, uni- 
ted into a tube. Anthers conspicuously 2-lobed at base. Germ inferior, 
globose, hairy. Style longer than the stamens. Stigmas acute, glandu- 
lar. Capsule furrowed, hairy, 3-valved, 3-celled. Seeds many in each 
cell, globose, dotted, attached to a central receptacle. 
Grows in stiff, damp, clayey soils. 
Flowers March — May. 
S. caule ancipiti, 
ramoso, folioso; spa- 
this muticis flore bre- 
vioribus ; petalis mu- 
cron atis ; foliis ensi- 
formibus. 
3. Anceps. 
S. scapo ancipiti, a- Scape compressed, 
latOjSimplicijSubaphyl- winged, simple, gen- 
