IRIS PRISMATICA.
PRISM-CAPSULED IRIS.
Tetrandria Monogynia, Linn. Irtdes, Juss.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Corolla 6-parted, large; three of the lamina erect; the other three reflected, with or
without a crest or beard on the inner side, and bearing the stamina at their
base. Style short. Stigmata 3, petaloid, oblong, large, usually arched. Stamina
incumbent, covered by the stigmata. Capsule 3-celled, 3-valved, many-
seeded. Seeds flat, triangular, (in some species nearly round or spherical.)
Nutt.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Flowers beardless; stem solid, round, as long as the leaves; leaves very narrow
and long j capsule long, in the form of a prism, narrowed at each end. Pursh.
Root perennial, resembling the roots of other species of this natural
genus. Stems very numerous, about two or three feet high, solid,
tound, smooth, slender, erect, somewhat tortuous, diverging from a
right line at the joints where the leaves originate. Leaves smooth,
linear, and grass-like, numerous, very long, particularly those arising
from the root, terminating for the most part in a sphacelated acumi-
nation. Flowers terminal, solitary, or by pairs, bi-bracteate. Bractes
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