The ancients, who named this flower Iris, had a true appreciation of its rainbow-like qualities; its texture is so ethereal that it seems to float in the grass, and to fade before our eyes like its evanescent namesake. It however replaces one day’s bloom by another flowering, and keeps up a prolonged succession of blossoms from day to day. “The fleur-de-lys, which is the flower of chivalry, has a sword for its leaf, and a lily for its heart.”--Ruskin. [Illustration: WILD IRIS: Iris versicolor.] *Blue-eyed Grass.* _Sisyrinchium angustifolium._ *Blue-eyed Mary.* Found, during June and July, in moist meadows and pastures amidst grasses. A few leaves and the flower-stem, from 4 to 8 inches in height, rise from the root. The leaf is like a grass-blade, fine-pointed, flat, and very thin, especially along the margins; it is slightly ridged with veins, and is smooth. In color, a strong green with a hint of blue. The 6 petal-like parts of the flower are oblong and blunt-pointed, with an abrupt sharp tip; their texture is thin, and they spread widely. The coloring is charming, a pale or dark blue, with purple markings, and a central design in yellow daintily outlined in purple; the prominent pistil is yellow at the base, and purple above, while its 3-cleft tip is orange. Two or three flowers are closely grouped on a little foot-stem which rises from betwixt two sheath-like leaves set on the summit of the rigidly upright flower-stem. This stem is furnished with thin sword-like margins. Though not found in abundance generally, this is not an uncommon plant, and occasionally a meadow may be found which every June morning is turned to a sea of blue, like a flax field for fullness of coloring, and every succeeding afternoon becomes green again, because this little Iris shuts her blue eye by mid-day. But one flower blooms on a plant at a time. [Illustration: BLUE-EYED GRASS: Sisyrinchium angustifolium.] AMARYLLIS FAMILY. AMARYLLIDACEÆ. *Star Grass.* _Hypoxis erecta._ Found in grassy pastures and fields from May to the end of June. The leaves and flower-stems, from 6 to 8 inches in height, rise together from the ground. The long, narrow leaf is slightly grooved, with a marked midrib, and a strong fibre; in color, as well as shape, it resembles the grass it grows amidst. The 6 petal-like, pointed parts of the flower are smooth on the inside and downy without; they spread flat to show the 6 yellow stamens; the inside of the flower is bright yellow, the outside tinged with green. Three or four flowers grow on the summit of the slender shining green stem. The swing of the curving leaf-blades is admirably graceful. [Illustration: STAR GRASS: Hypoxis erecta.] LILY FAMILY. LILIACEÆ. *Adder’s-tongue.* _Erythronium Americanum._ *Dog-tooth Violet.* *Trout Lily.* Found in early May on springy slopes or in moist meadow-lands.