Tas. 7097. 
IRIS (XIPHION) Botsstzrr. 
Native of Portugal. : 
Nat. Ord. ErmpEx.—Tribe Morzez. 
Genus Iris, Linn. ; (Benth. et Hook.f. Gen. Pl. vol. iii. p. 686.) 
Iris ‘(Xiphion) Boissiert ; bulbo parvo oblongo, caule gracili simpliéi sub- - 
pedali, foliis radicalibus subteretibus subpedalibus viridibus facie profunde 
_ canaliculatis, superioribus paucis sensim_ minoribus, supremis bractei- 
formibus, spathz valvis ventricosis rigidulis, pedicello brevissimo, ovario 
cylindrico acute trigono, limbo violacev segmentis exterioribus obovato- 
cuneatis carin4 lutea pilis paucis instructa, segmentis interioribus erectis 
obovato-unguiculatis, styli cristis parvis deltoideis. 
I. (Xiphion): Boissieri, Henriquez in Bolet. Brot. vol. iii. p. 183, with figure ; 
Wilk, Illust, Plant. Hisp. vol. ii. p. 46, t. 118; Foster in Gard. Chron. 
1887, vol. ii. p. 38. 
This new bulbous Iris is known only on a single moun- 
tain in the south of Portugal, the Serra do Gerez, where 
-it grows at an altitude of from two thousand to three 
thousand feet above sea-level. It belongs to the true 
Xiphions, the same group that includes the well-known 
English and Spanish Irises of gardens, with all their 
multiform variations in the size and colouring of the flower, 
and is nearest’ to J. filifolia, Boiss. (Xiphion filifolium, 
Hook. fil. in Bot. Mag. t. 5928), which is also a native of © 
the Spanish Peninsula. It differs, however, from all its 
neighbours in having a rudimentary beard, like that of a 
Pogoniris, down the keel of the lower part of the outer 
segments. There is a specimen in the Kew herbarium, 
collected by Winkler in 1876. It was first flowered in 
England in 1877 by Professor M. Foster, who received 
the bulbs from Mr. A. W. Tait of Oporto. Our drawing 
is made from material supplied by Messrs. Barr and Son, 
of Tooting and Covent Garden. It flowers in England at 
the beginning of June. | ; 
Descr. Bulb small, oblong, with thin brown outer 
tunics and a few fleshy root-fibres. Stem a foot long, 
slender, terete, simple, bearing at the base one or two 
Janvary Isr, 1890. 
