364 
IEIDACE^. 
Order XCIV*. IRIDACEiE. 
Perianth superior, corolline, the 6 divisions free or more or less 
joined above the ovary. Stamens 3, perigynous or epigynous; fila- 
ments free or monadelphous ; anthers extrorse. Ovary 3-celled; 
placentation axile ; style single ; stigmas 3, filiform or petaloid. Cap- 
sule 3-celled, with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds globose or discoid ; 
embryo in the centre of abundant firm albumen. — Herbs with 
persistent ensiform or linear leaves and showy regular or irregular 
flowers in spikes or clusters, single or several together included 
in a couple of firm bracts (spatbe-valves.) Distrib. Cosmopolitan. 
Species 500. 
Rootstock not bulbous. 
Stamens monadelphous * Sisyrinchium. 
Stamens free. Stigmas petaloid * Dietes. 
Stamens free. Stigmas cuneate * Belemcanda. 
Rootstock bulbous. 
Tube straight and limb regular * Morphixta. 
Tube curved and limb regular * Watsonia. 
Tube curved and limb irregular * Antholyza. 
None of the plants of this order are wild in Mauritius, but the follow- 
ing are more or less established. 
* Sisyrinchium Bermudiana , Linn. ; (S. gramineum, Lam. ; Bot. Mag. 
tab. 464), a native of North America, on the shoulder of the Pouce and 
hills about Moka. Boots fibrous. Leaves narrow, grass-like. Stems 
a foot high, flattened and winged. Plowers small, blue, regular, with a 
pilose yellow throat, 4-6 together, enclosed in two sharply keeled spathe- 
valves, from which they appear in succession. Stamens monadelphous. 
Capsule globose, the size of a pea. 
* Dietes iridijolia, Salisb. in Trans. Hort. Soc. i. 307 (Morsea 
iridoides, Gawl ; Bot. Mag. t. 693, M. catenulata. Bojer, Hort. 
Maur. 334, non Ker) a native of the Cape, in fields near Moka 
and Bois Cheri. Rhizomatous. Leaves large, ensiform, distichous. 
Inflorescence an ample few-flowered corymb ; spathe-valves tight- 
clasping. Ovary cylindrical^ on a pilose pedicel. Perianth large, whitish, 
slit down to the ovary, with falcate unequal divisions, the outer obovate 
and furnished with a beard of bright yellow hairs down the claw. 
Stigmas petaloid. Very near the European genus Iris. 
* Belemcanda chinensis , Leman in Bed. Lil. tab. 121 (Ixia chinensis, 
linn; Bot. Mag. tab. 171 ; Pardanthus chinensis, Ker), a native of 
China, in fields near Port Louis. Rhizomatous. Leaves large, 
ensiform, distichous. Flowers in an ample corymb, in clusters of 
5-6 together, on pedicels longer than the short clustered spathe-valves. 
Ovary fusiform ; perianth slit down to the ovary into six oblanceolate 
divisions, coloured reddish orange with deeper spots, spirally twisted 
after flowering. Stamens rather shorter than the limb. Stigmas small, 
cuneate, like those of Gladiolus. 
