Tap. 8323. 
IRIS CLARKEI. 
Sikkim. 
TrRrpackAk. Tribe [nm4Kar. 
Iris, Linn,; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plunt. vol. iii. p. 686. 
Iris Clarkei, Baker, Handb. Irid. p. 25 et in Hook. f. Fl. Brit. Ind. vol. vi. 
p. 275; Dykes in Gard. Chron. 1909, vol. xlvi. p. 15; affinis 7. Delavayi, 
Mich., sed caule solido, foliis adultis minus rigidis parte superiore demissa, 
spathis magis herbaceis, flore minus exserto, segmentis exterioribus aliter 
variegatis distincta. 
Herba ad 70 cm. alta, rhizomate late repente graciliore spatharum residuis in 
fibras solutis vestito. Folia linearia, acuta, 25-60 em. longa, 1-1°3 em. 
lata, primo erecta, adulta parte superiore demissa, tenuiter prominenter 
nervosa, uno latere magis minusve glauca. Scapus in planta culta ad 
70 cm. altus, in spontanea humilior, subteres, solidus, parce ramosus vel 
saepius simplex. Spatha 2-valvis, 2-flora; valvae lanceolatac, acutae vel 
acute subacuminatae, herbaceae, virides, 7-8 cm. lonzae.  edicellus sub 
anthesi 2°5-5 cm., demum ad_7°5 em. longus. Perigonium purpureo- 
violaceum, variegatum, circiter 7 cm. diametro; tubus vix 1 em. longus ; 
laciniae exterae ebarbatae, ecristatae, ungue crecto-patente limbo sub- 
aequilongo latiusculo, limbo patulo vel subdemisso obovato (explanato 
obovato-rotundato), basi luteo-suffuso, ad medium albo-variegato, cacterum 
purpureo-violaceo, 3-3-5 cm. longo; laciniae interiores oblique erectae, 
oblanceolatae, in unguem gracilem attennatae, 4-4°5 em. longae, violaceae, 
Antherae 15 mm. longae. Styli rami coerulei, cristis inclusis 4-4-5 em. 
longi, crista 1 cm. longa, ad 1°3 em. lata, lobis sese obtegentibus rotundatis. 
Ovarium 3-gonum. Capsula oblonga, 3-gona, 3°5-5 cm. longa, lateribus 
1:5-1'7 cm. latis. Semina compressa, suborbicularia, 4~4°5 mm. diametro, 
nigro-fuscescentia, marginibus pallidis.—J. himalaica, Dykes in Gard. Chron, 
1909, vol. xlv. pp. 3, 36.—O. Stapr. 
This handsome Iris was met with for the first time in 
1848 by Sir J. D. Hooker, who found it on Tonglo as well 
as on the Yakla in Sikkim at about 10,000 ft. above sea- 
level, and made in the field a coloured sketch of the plant 
which is now in the Kew collection. It was again gathered 
on Tonglo in 1857 by the late Dr. T. Thomson, in 1868 by 
the late Dr. I. Anderson, and in 1875 by the late Mr. C. B. 
Clarke, to whom the species was dedicated by Mr. Baker. 
It has since been met with in other localities in Sikkim 
and has been gathered in the Chumbi Vailey, further to the 
east, by the collectors of the late Sir George King, to whom 
European Iris lovers owe its presence in their collections, 
where it has found a welcome since 1876. ‘Treated origin- 
ally, for reasons which have been explained by Mr. Dykes, 
Juxy, 1910. 
