IRIS FAMILY 
( Iridacece) 
This family is composed of perennial herbs growing 
In moist places and having long linear or sword-shaped 
leaves and large showy flowers. Iris is named from the 
Greek, meaning rainbow, and it certainly is no mis¬ 
nomer as applied to the Blue Flag or Iris which is the 
most common of the genus. The perpetuation of this 
species in healthy condition is insured by the formation 
of the flower, which is such that self-pollenization is 
practically impossible. The stamens are directly under 
the strap-like divisions of the style and the stigma is 
on the upper surface at the rolled-up tip. Bees are the 
most frequent visitors. 
Larger Blue Flag; Blue Iris; Fleur-de-Lis (Iris 
versicolor). Flower solitary, from a green spathe at 
the end of a long peduncle; sepals, neither bearded nor 
crested, but broad, violet and handsomely veined; petals 
erect, flat and spatulate. Leaves sword-shaped, glaucus- 
green, folded into flat clusters at thi base. Very com¬ 
mon from Newfoundland to Manitoba and southwards, 
flowering from May to July. 
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