Tas. 7081. 
] RI S PARADOXA. 
Native of the Caucasus and Northern Persia. 
Nat. Ord. Inwex.—Tribe Morzea. 
Genus Ins, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p- 686.) 
¢ 
Iris (Oncocyclus) paradora; rhizomate breviter repente, foliis linearibus 
glaucis confertis, caule monocephalo foliis breviori, spathe valvis mem- 
branaceis, perianthii tubo brevi, segmentis exterioribus patulis, limbo 
brevissimo, ungue diffuse barbato, segmentis interioribus magnis erectis 
obovatis breviter unguiculatis, styli ramis dorso convexis cristis apicali- 
bus parvis deltoideis, antheris linearibus filamentis longioribus. 
I. paradoxa. Steven in Mem. Soc. Natur. Mose. vol. v. p. 355; MM. Bieb. F7. 
Taur. Caue, vol. iii. p.41; Ledeb. Fl. Ross. vol. iv. p. 105; Regel Gartenft. 
t. 386, fi. 3; in Trans. Hort. Soc. Russ. 1863, t. 42, fig. 3; The Garden, 
vol. xxxii. p. 584, ewm Ic. ; Baker in Journ. Linn. Soc. vol. xvi. p. 142. 
This very curious Iris has long been known in cultiva- 
tion, but is still very rare. It closely resembles its better 
known neighbour Iris iberica (Bot. Mag. tab. 5847) in 
habit, leaves, and the inner segments of the perianth, 
which in both species vary in colour from white to lilac; 
but the outer segments of the perianth are quite peculiar 
and different from that of any other Iris in being reduced 
to a mere tip and narrow margin to the diffusely-bearded 
claw. All the species of the sub-genus Oncocyclus are re- 
stricted to the arid regions of Western Asia, one or other 
of them extending all the way from the borders of Egypt 
northward to the Caucasus. Our drawing was made from 
a plant flowered by Mr. R. I. Lynch at the Cambridge 
Botanical Gardens last May. It also flowered at Kew at 
about the same time. 
Descr. Rootstock short. Produced leaves four or five, 
crowded at the base of the flowering stem, linear, 
glaucous, at most half a foot long. Flowering stem 
- one-headed, terete, shorter than the leaves. Spathe-valves 
large, ventricose, oblong, greenish-white, withered at the 
OctoBER Ist, 1889. 
