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Monocotyledons with Petaloid Flowers — Iridacece . 
Distribution. —A considerable Natural Order, widely dispersed in both Temperate zones ; thinly 
in the Northern, but very numerous at the Cape of Good Hope. Rare between the Tropics. 
Number of British Genera, 5 ; Species, 7. 
ROOT-FIBRES usually from a bulb, as in Crocus and Gladiolus, or from a thickened rhizome as in Iris. 
Leaves radical; in Iris sword-shaped (ensiform) and vertically flattened. 
PERIANTH usually showy : regular in Crocus with erect segments, in Iris with the 3 outer segments recurved ; 
or irregular as in Gladiolus and Antholyza. 
STIGMAS usually 3, filiform, or dilated and fringed in Crocus; broadly membranous, petaloid with a transverse 
stigmatic notch in Iris. 
Fruit a 3-celled capsule dehiscing loculicidally. 
USES, See. — The dried rhizome of Florentine Iris (Iris florentina) is used medicinally as a stimulant. Saffron 
is the dried stigmas of Crocus sativus. It was formerly much esteemed as a stimulant drug, and was extensively 
cultivated in Essex at Saffron Walden : it has long fallen into disuse excepting as a colouring agent. 
The flowers of Iridaceae are generally very handsome though fugitive, and many species are in cultivation both 
in the open air and in plant-houses, as yellow, purple and white varieties of Crocus, several species of Iris, numerous 
hybrids and horticultural varieties of the gay genus Gladiolus, chiefly of Cape species, and the Cape genera Watsonia, 
Ixia, Antholyza , and others. 
Natural Order 
AMARYLLIDACEiE Tab. 95. 
Diagnosis.— Perennial usually bulbous herbs with radical or rarely cauline 
