110 ~ Smilaceae 
SMILACEAE Smilax Family 
Shrubby or herbaceous, climbing. Leaves alternate, netted-veined, petioled, usually 
with stipular tendrils (so in ours). Flowers small, dioicous, in axillary umbels. Perianth- 
segments 6, similar. Stamens mostly 6, distinct; filaments ligulate; anthers basifixed, in- 
trorse, 2-celled. Ovary superior, 3-celled, rarely 1-celled; cells opposite the inner perianth- 
segments, |—-2-ovuled; style very short or none; stigmas |—3. Fruit a berry, globose. 
Seeds 1—6. 
Leaves broad, usually with a pair of stipular appendages. Flowers greenish or yel- 
lowish, regular. Perianth-segments distinct, deciduous. Stamens on the very base of 
perianth; anthers linear or oblong, apparently l-celled. Stigmas 3, almost sessile, 
spreading. Fruit small. (Gk. smile—a grater; from the prickly-rough stems of some.) 
eG: S. californica Gray 
IRIDACEAE Flag Family 
Herbs, perennial, usually with a creeping rhizome or a somewhat acrid corm. 
Leaves equitant, sheathing, 2-ranked, sword-like or linear, evergreen or withering in the 
fall. Inflorescence subtended by the spathe-like bracts. Flowers showy, perfect, regular. 
Perianth petal-like, 6-cleft; segments in 2 series, withering-persistent. Stamens 3, in- 
serted on the base of the 3 outer perianth-segments; filaments filiform; anthers 2-celled, 
extrorse. Ovary 3-celled, inferior. Fruit a capsule, 3-lobed or 3-angled, loculicidal. 
Seeds few to many. 
A. Perianth 30—60 mm. long, white or blue; styles petal-like; style-branches opposite 
the anthers. Iris (p. 110) 
AA.  Perianth 6—17 mm. long; styles filiform; style-branches alternate with the 
anthers. 
B. Flowers blue, rarely whitish; filaments united to the top. 
SISYRINCHIUM (p. 111) 
BB. riever not blue, rarely whitish; filaments united only at base. 
C. Flowers yellow, with veins or stripes of black or brown or orange; scape 
broadly 2-winged. HypastyLus (p. 111) 
CC. Flowers from whitish to bright purplish-red; scapes compressed but not 
winged. OLSYNIUM (p. 112) 
IRIS FLAG 
Rhizome creeping or horizontal, often woody, sometimes bearing tubers; stem 
rather stout, mostly terete. Leaves sword-like or linear. Flowers in a forked corymb, 
or only |; spathe-bracts 2 or more, the inner scarious. Perianth-segments clawed; outer 
segments obovate above the narrow claw, spreading or recurved; inner segments nar- 
rower and erect; tube extending somewhat above the ovary. Anthers linear or oblong, 
beneath the arching style-branches. Style 3-parted; base adnate to the perianth-tube; 
branches thin, petal-like, resting upon the outer perianth-segments, covering the sta- 
meis; style-tip a wide 2-parted crest. Seeds numerous, in 2 rows in each cell. (Gk. 
iris—the rainbow; referring to the colors of the flowers.) 
«\. Flowers blue or purple. 
B. Stem leafless; bracts largely scarious; ‘perianth- tube 68 mm. long. W. E. 
(J. longipetala for our region.) 
I. missouriensis Nutt. 
