Tas. 6897. 
GLADIOLUS Korscuyanvs. 
Native of Persia and Afghanistan. 
Nat. Ord. Intprx.—Tribe Ix1ez. 
Genus Giapioius, Linn.; (Benth, et Hook. f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 709.) 
Guiaprotus (Sphexrospora) Kotschyanus; bulbo ovoideo tunicis fibrosis, caulibus 
erectis strictis gracilibus 1-2-pedalibus, foliis 2-3 linearibus remote superpositis 
rigidulis glabris, floribus 4-12 in spicam laxam secundam dispositis, spathe 
valvis lanceolatis firmulis ineequalibus, perianthii rubello-purpurei tubo infundi- 
bulari, segmentis anguste obovatis subequilongis tubo 2-3-plo superantibus, 3 
inferioribus magis faleatis et unguiculatis facie purpureo saturatiori pulchre 
carinatis, genitalibus perianthio distincte brevioribus, seminibus subglobosis 
exalatis. 
G. Kotschyanus, Boiss. Diagn. ser. 1, part xiii. p. 15; Baker in Journ. Linn 
Soc? vol. v. p. 141. 
G. imbricatus, var. Kotschyanus, Boiss, Fl. Orient. vol. v. p. 141. 
_ This is the first-fruits, from a horticultural point of view, 
of Dr. Aitchison’s labours as Botanist to the Affghan 
Boundary Commission. The Oriental Gladioli are in a 
state of great confusion, for they belong to a group in 
which the differential characters of the species are so slight 
that they can only be worked out by studying the plant in 
all stages of growth, which of course can only be done 
properly when it is brought into cultivation. Dr. Aitchison 
has brought home a good supply of the present plant in a 
late stage of growth, and we have now grown and flowered 
it from his seeds at Kew; and after studying this full 
material, I feel quite satisfied that it is distinct specifically 
from the widely-spread European Gladiolus imbricatus, 
_ with which Boissier has lately united it. ‘There are several 
allied Oriental forms, as G. subbiflorus, hygrophilus and 
libanoticus of Boissier, and G. Raddeanus of Trautvetter, 
which also require to be studied under cultivation. Dr. 
Aitchison found the present plant growing abundantly 
both in Hastern Persia and North-Western Affghanistan as 
a weed in cultivated fields at an elevation of five thousand 
SEPT. 1st, 1886. 
