174 Dr Graham's Description of' New or Rare Plants. 



as with them to give the form of a boat to the lower half of the flower. 

 Stamens monadelphous, straight, being scarcely curved at their apices ; 

 anthers yellow. Germen long, linear, slightly hairy, indistinctly lobed ; 

 style bent at right angles to the germen, conical, smooth ; stigma termi- 

 nal, small, cleft, in contact with the vexillum. 

 This plant was brought to the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, in 1823, 

 under the name here adopted, from the Botanic Garden, Calcutta, by 

 Dr Macwhirter, and has flowered in the stove every summer since. 

 Were it not that its flowers drop very early, so that a few only are ex- 

 panded at a time, it would be ver}'^ ornamental, as the raceme is large, 

 the colour of the flowers beautiful, and the drooping branches gracetuL 

 It has never formed fruit. 



Iris lutescens. 



I. lutescens ; caule simplici unifloro folioso, folium inferius sequanti ; flore 

 barbato, breve pedunculate, tubo corollse germen superanti, laciniis un- 

 dulatis, crenulatis, obtusis, unguiculatis, interioribus latioribus inflexis, 

 laciniis labii superioris stigmatis acutis, spatha erecta, excedente et val- 

 vula interiora vix inflata involvente tubum. 



I. lutescens, Willd. Sp. PI. vol. i. p. 225.— Hort. Kew. ed. 2. vol. i. p. 118. 

 Lamarck, Tableau Encyclop. vol. i. p. 122. — Ibid. Encyclop. Method, 

 vol. iii. p. 297' 



Description. — Stem leafy, flexuose, about seven inches high, nearly 

 round, one-flowered. Leaves scymitar-shaped, and a little turned forward 

 at the point, partially glaucous or subpruinose, ribbed, the lowest equal in 

 length to the stem, the others shorter, sheathing the stem, sheaths com- 

 pressed and bordered. Spathe bi valvular, longer than the tube of the 

 corolla ; valves pointed, herbaceous, green, membranous and withered to- 

 wards their apices ; outer valve rather the broadest, but scarcely longer 

 than the other, erect, the inner sheathing the tube of the corolla, and 

 slightly inflated. Peduncle about three-eighths of an inch long, nearly 

 round, succulent, and nearly colourless ; by its side within the spathe 

 there is a small awl-shaped thread, the abortive representation of a se- 

 cond peduncle. Corolla pale yellow, delicate, nearly the whole of the 

 outer segments, and the claws of the inner, streaked with pale brown ; 

 segments undulate, crenulate, especially towards their extremities, near- 

 ly of equal length ; outer rolled backwards, bearded with yellow hairs, 

 spathulate, tapering gradually towards their base ; inner the broadest, 

 bent across the centre of the flower above the stigmata, oblong, and de- 

 current upon long winged claws, which are more slender than those of 

 the outer segments. All the segments when decaying have their claws 

 adpressed to the style, and their laminae folded across the centre of the 

 flower, so as entirely to close it. Tube above 1 inch long, limb inclu- 

 ding the claws about 2\ inches. Stamens shorter than the stigmata ; fi- 

 laments subulate, adhering to the corolla as high as the base of the hairy 

 line ; anthers white, equal in length to the free portion of the filaments. 

 Stigmata broader than the portion of the reflected segments of the co- 

 rolla which they cover, about 1| inch long, upper lip erect, its segments 

 pointed, inciso-serrated. Stgle 3 -sided, free for nearly half an inch, be- 

 low which it is united to the tube of the corolla. Germen half an inch 

 long, green, trigonous, marked along the middle of each side by a slight- 

 ly prominent line opposite to the insertion of the dissepiments. Ovules 

 obovate, attached to the central column. , 



This is certainly the Iris lutescens of the authorities quoted above, though 

 Steudel (Nomenclator Botanicus) says it is not that of Lamarck, and he 

 refers the /. lutescens of "Willd. and Hort. Kew. to /. virescens of Decand. 

 which again Sprengel considers /. variegata ; but this species, as figured 

 in Bot. Mag. t. 16. is held distinct from our plant, by its many-flowered 

 stem, and by the appearance of its spathe. The /. lutescens of Sprengel, 

 erroneously attributed to Lamarck, is quite different from our plant, and 

 is at once distinguished by the obtuse upper lip of its stigma, and by its 

 short stem. It is probably one of the modifications of Iris pumila, var. 

 lutea, Bot. Mag. t. 1209. 



