96 
TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Iris. 
I. pseud-a'corus. Each alternate segment of the blossom smaller 
than the summit. (Seeds angular. E.) 
Curt. 197— (E. Bot. 578. E.)— Blachw. 261— Kniph. 3— FI. Dan. 494— 
Woodv. 40 —Dod. 248. 1— Lob. Obs. 31. 1—Ger. Em. 50. 2—Park. 1219 
— H. Ox. iv. 6. 11. 
( Roots large, fleshy, horizontal. Stem three or four feet high, upright. 
Leaves sword-shaped, erect, long, somewhat glaucous, striated, acumi¬ 
nate. E.) Valves of the calyx spear-shaped. Petals, the three outer and 
larger ones streaked with purple lines. Summits cut into fringed seg¬ 
ments at the top. Flowers three together at the top of the stem: the 
two outer flowers having each one sheathing valve, and the middle flower 
two. Blossom yellow; (varying to a straw-colour, and sometimes white. 
Ray. E.) 
Fleur-de-luce.* Water Flag. Yellow Water Iris. (Scotch: Segs. 
Irish: Silistir. Welsh: Cammined y dur; Gellhesgen. Gaelic: Seilis- 
deir. E.) Banks of rivers, marshes, and wet meadows. P. July.t 
I. FtETiDis'siMA. Stem with one angle: (seeds globular. E.) 
(E. Bot. 596. E.)— Dod. 247. 2— Lob. Obs. 37. l—Ger. Em. 60—Park. 256. 
5— C. B. Th. 560— J. B. ii. 731. 2 —H. Ox. iv. 5. 2—Fuschs. 794— Matth. 
991— Trag. 904— J. B. ii. 731. 1— Blachw. 158— Ger. 53. 1— C. B. 
Th. 564. 
* (A corruption of Louis, (and with still less propriety Fleur-de-lis, as having no 
affinity with the lily,) the seventh king of France of that name having adopted it on his 
shield during the crusades. Our third Edward transferred this emblem from the plains 
of Cressy to the arms of England, where it remained emblazoned, till superseded by 
the shamrock on tire union with Ireland. E.) 
T The juice of the fresh root is very acrid, and has been found to act as an aperient, 
after other powerful means had failed. Edin. Med. Ess. vol. v. art. 8. It may be 
given for this purpose in doses of eighty drops, every hour or two, but the degree of 
its acrimony is so uncertain, that it can hardly ever come into general use. In some 
cases it proves diuretic. The fresh roots have been mixed with the food of swine bitten 
by a mad dog, and they escaped the disease, when others bitten by the same dog died 
raving mad. The root loses most of its acrimony by drying. Goats eat the leaves 
■when fresh ; but cows, horses, and swine refuse them. Cows will eat them when dry. 
The roots are used in the island of Jura to dye black. Pennant’s Tour, 1772, p. 214. 
(Linnaeus asserts this plant to be decidedly injurious to all cattle, except goats.—Mr. W. 
Skrimshire has discovered that the seeds afford an excellent substitute for foreign coffee. 
Being roasted in the same manner, they very much resemble it in colour and flavour, 
but have something more of a saccharine odour, approaching to that of extract of li¬ 
quorice. When carefully prepared, they possess much more of the aroma of coffee 
than is to be found in any of the leguminous or gramineous seeds that have been 
treated in the same way. Coffee made of these seeds is extremely wholesome and 
nutritious in proportion of half an ounce or an ounce to a pint of boiling water. Month. 
Mag. v. 27. The leaves smell like rancid bacon, but not so powerfully as do those of 
the following species. Few plants exceed the Iris in elegance of form and colour. 
Our gardens exhibit a rich variety; nor should we omit to encourage the Water Flag in 
ornamental grounds, where naturally, beside the limpid stream or translucent lake, 
“ Amid its waving swords, in flaming gold the Iris toweis.” 
The agency of insects is indispensable to the fecundation of the different species of Iris. 
In these, as Kolreuter ingeniously remarks, the true stigma is situated on the upper side 
of a transverse membrane (arcus eminens of Haller,) which is stretched across the middle 
of the under surface of the petal-like expansion or style flag, the whole of which has 
been often regarded as fulfilling the office of a stigma. The anther being situated at the 
