34 
stalk, slips over the edge of the bract, catches there, and the 
force of the flower-stalk being less than the resistance of the 
bract, it cannot be pulled back again by any power of its own. 
After flowering the flower-stalk becomes more woody and 
stronger, and thus is able to recover itself if it catches against 
the edge of the bract, which is however not likely to happen, 
because it is raised upwards beyond contact with that organ. 
In conclusion, M. Morren compares the mechanism which 
causes the apparent catalepsy of Physostegia to the escape- 
ment of a watch, where a hooked lever stops the wheel and 
regulates the movements. 
62. IRIS deffera. See no. 42, page 25, of the miscellaneous matter of 
this volume. 
Upon the subject of this plant I have received the follow- 
ing memorandum from the Hon. and Rev: W. Herbert, who 
is specially attending to the whole order Iridacez. 
* Having just received the new No. of the Register, I see 
your quotation of Iris deflexa with erroneous statements con- 
cerning it, extracted from the Floral Cabinet. I have the 
plant ; it came from Birmingham with that name, and I have 
flowered it. I have also seen it in flower at Osborne’s nur- 
sery, where it had endured the winter of 1838, as it has last 
winter here. It is Iris nepalensis of the Bot. Register, and 
identical with the specimens of Iris nepalensis from Kamoon. 
It is utterly untrue that it is in any degree tender, and it has 
no disposition to have a flexuous and deflexed stalk, which 
was the consequence of cultivating a perfectly hardy plant 
under glass supposing it to be tender. Furthermore it is a 
variety of Iris Germanica, not distinguished by any feature 
except the size and tint of the flower. I may take this oppor- 
tunity of adding, that the plant figured in the Bot. Mag. as 
Iris subbiflora is an Italian variety of Iris Germanica ; and 
that the Lisbon Iris subbiflora, which I possess, is very diffe- 
rent from it. The true name of the Iris figured in the Floral 
Cabinet as deflexa is Iris Germanica, var. Nepalensis, see 
Bot. Reg. 10. 818. It is forced with the same facility as the 
European varieties, by introducing it for a few days into the 
stove in February.” 
