1889, Iris Caroliniana

Proceedings of the American academy of Arts and Sciences, vol. XXV, page 134, 1889

Iris Caroliniana, Watson, 1. c. 514. Rootstock rather stout: leaves elongated, 3 feet long by 12 to 15 lines broad, thin and lax, bright green, not glaucous or scarcely at all so: stem slender, 2 feet high; peduncles 2-flowered; bracts scarious, exceeding the pedicels: ovary 8 lines long, bearing a cylindric-campanulate tube 6 lines long; petals distinct at base, the outer 3 inches long, broadly spreading, with a yellowish green claw veined with brown, the elliptical blade lilac veined with purple and with a yellow spot reaching to the centre; inner petals oblong-spatulate, 2^ inches long, the blade lilac and claw yellowish: anthers as long as the filaments: wing of the stigma continuous with the erosely toothed lilac crest : capsule nearly 2 inches long, oblong, somewhat triangular with very rounded angles: seeds in one row in each cell, very large (4 or 5 lines broad and 2 lines thick), pale brown. — Cultivated in the Botanic Garden, Cambridge, from roots collected in 1888 near Wilmington, N. C, by Mr. W. A. Manda. Resembling in some respects i. versicolor of the Northern States, as it has been generally understood, which doubtless also includes the I. Vlrginica of Linnaeus as represented by the original Gronovian specimen preserved in the herbarium of the British Museum. That species differs most notably in its erect glaucous and often much shorter leaves, and its very much smaller seeds in two rows in each cell. There are also less obvious differences in the coloring and shape of the smaller flowers. It varies to a considerable degree, especially in size, but in its main characters it appears to be
constant and well defined. ---Sereno Watson

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-- BobPries - 2014-12-28