BLUE AND PURPLE FLOWERS 
GROUP III 
Leaves mostly from root only. 
Larger Blue Flag. 'Fleur-de-lis (Iris versicolor). Iris 
family. May to July. 
A perennial with stout stem from a thickened rootstalk, 
maximum height three feet. The flowers are large, terminal, 
conspicuous, with three divisions of the perianth (assemblage 
of petals and sepals) curved back. Inside the three stamens are 
three blue, leaf-like appendages which represent the stigmas. 
The leaves are long and narrow, ascending. Low ground. 
Greek, rainbow. 
Hepatica. Liver-wort (Hepatica triloba). Crowfoot family. 
March to May. 
A low plant with light-blue or purple (one-half to three- 
fourths inch) flowers, with numerous petal-like sepals and 
numerous stamens, appearing before the leaves, on long, hairy, 
leafless stalks. There are three broad, hairy bracts below the 
flower. The leaves are liver-shaped (whence the name), thick, 
broad, long-stemmed, with three rounded lobes; the roots are 
fibrous. Woods. The tough leaves of the hepatica withstand 
the cold of winter, and the flower is one of the earliest to bloom. 
These are the blossoms described by Lowell (Biglow Papers) as 
" Half-vent'rin' liverworts in furry coats." 
Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) . Iris 
family. May to Aug"ust. 
A delicate perennial, under a foot high, with grass-like, flat 
, stem, tenninated by two pointed bracts of unequal length, 
between which rise the flower-stalks (one to four) about as long 
as the shorter bract. The three petals and three sepals are 
alike, nearly one-half inch long, violet, yellow at the base; 
each with an awl-shaped point. The three stamens are united 
around the pistil, which has a three-divided style. Fields and 
open woods. 
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