Tas. 6118, 
IRIS tTectorum. 
Native of Japan. 
Nat. Ord. IrntpaceEm.—Tribe Ir1pEx. 
Genus Iris, Linn, ; (Endl. Gen. Plant., p. 266). 
Iris tectorum; rhizomate crasso, caule elato, foliis pedalibus 3-11 poll. latis 
lete viridibus, scapo subcompresso foliis subsequante, spathis oblongis 
acutis herbaceis 3-valvibus, floribus 3-4 poll. diam., pedicello ovario 
equilongo, perianthii tubo crassiusculo ore 6-glanduloso, segmentis 
crispato-undulatis subsequalibus exterioribus lilacinis maculatis obovato- 
rotundatis reflexis ungue albido venis violaceis, crista laciniata, interiori- 
bus unicoloribus, filamentis complanatis, stigmatibus ligulatis superne 
dilatatis, segmentis grosse dentatis, 
Iris tectorum, Mawim. Diagn. brev. Pl. Nov. Jap. Dec., viii. p, 563; Regel 
Garten-Fl., vol. xxi. p. 65, t. 716. 
I. tomiolopha, Hance in Trimen Jour. Bot. N.S., vol. i. p. 229. 
I. cristata, Mig. Pro. Fl. Jap., p. 805, non Ait. 
Although the plant here figured came from Whampoa in 
China, where it was cultivated by Dr. Hance, Her Britannic 
Majesty’s Vice-Consul at that port, there can be no question 
but that it is the J apanese Iris tectorum of Maximovicz, which 
grows in fields about Yokohama in Japan, and is likewise 
cultivated by the Japanese. It differs from Maximovicz’s 
description, but not from native specimens, in having three 
Spathes, which are acute or acuminate—characters which 
(with some others of foliage that are very variable) induced 
Dr. Hance to publish it as a new species, under the name of 
tomiolopha, in allusion to its cut crest. On the other hand it 
differs from Dr. Hance’s description in the spreading inner 
perianth-segments, a character probably due to cultivation, 
as it occurs in the splendid Iris Kempferi var. Hendersoni, 
lately exhibited in the Royal Horticultural Society by 
Messrs. Henderson, and which is unquestionably a form of 
e & levigata, with a spreading perianth. With the North 
American J. cristata, to which it was referred by the late 
SEPTEMBER, 1874, 
