372 ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOTANY OF [Iridacew. 
imparting an agreeable flavour to the breath : being also in some degree acrid, it has 
been employed in making the peas for keeping open issues. J. germanica and Pseud- 
acorus, are other species supposed to be included under the ancient Iris of the Greeks, 
while Z. fetidissima is conjectured to be the Xyris of Dioscorides. The former are referred 
to in Arabian authors by the name \.,\ eersa, with sosun for the Arabic and Persian 
synonyme ; and the different kinds distinguished as white, blue, yellow, and many- 
coloured sosun. This name appears to be of the same origin as the Syriac suseana, 
and the susinum of the Greeks, and probably also of the shushan of Scripture, which 
is usually translated lily ; and likewise of the soshannim of the 45th Psalm, supposed 
to refer to the ‘‘ lilies of the Nile,’ worn as an ornament of the head-dress by the female 
choristers of Egypt (Athenzeum, 1837, p. 537). The species of Iris cultivated in India, 
it is not uninteresting to observe, is also called sosun, and its root-stocks used for the 
same purposes as thé Iris of the Greeks. Dr.Wallich’s specimens still retain some 
of the peculiar odour of the Florentine Iris. The Iris root, sometimes said to be an 
article of the commerce of N. W. India, is no doubt the koot or Costus, mentioned at 
p. 360. 
Saffron is another article of Eastern as of Western commerce and medicine. Its 
European name is evidently derived from the Arabic zafran; while its Greek xpoxos, is 
too closely allied to the Hebrew karkom and the Persian kerkum, to allow us to doubt 
of their all having a common origin. Though early cultivated in Europe, it was 
originally most probably introduced from the East. It is still cultivated in Persia, as 
well as in Cashmere, and imported into India from the former in cake, and from the 
latter in the form of what is called hay saffron ; the former is much the higher priced, 
but both are as highly esteemed in India as medicinal articles, as saffron ever was in 
earlier times in Europe. I am indebted to Professor Don for the following characters 
of the species of Iris. ; 
1. Iris nepalensis, barbata, scapo compresso sulcato plurifioro foliis ensiformibus plerumque longiore, 
spathis foliaceis subeequalibus, sepalis omnibus emarginatis, ovario obtusé trigono tubi perianthii infundi- 
buliformis vix longitudine. Wall. Cat. n. 5050; Lindl. in Bot. Reg. t. 818; Royle, t.90. f. 2. I. japonica. 
Thunb. in Linn. Trans. 2, p. 327? 
Hab. Nepal (Wallich) ; Kemaon (Blinkworth) ; Bychucky Ghaut, between Pabur and Tonse, and 
Bhala Gaon (village), on the ascent to Surkunda (Royle). 
2. I. kemaonensis, barbata ; scapo brevissimo unifloro, perianthii tubo longissimo subfiliformi, sepalis 
interioribus bilobis longé unguiculatis, ovario turbinato trigono, stigmatis lobis integerrimis. 
I. kemaonensis, Wall. Cat. n. 5052 ; Kemaon, (Blinkworth) ; Kedarkanta, (Royle). 
3. I. decora. Wall. Pl. Asiat. Rar. 1, p. 77, t. 86.—JI. sulcata. Ejusd. Cat. n. 5049. 
Don Prod. Fl. Nep. p.54.—I. orientalis. Thunb, in Linn. Trans. 2, p. 328 ? 
Hab. Nepal, (Wallich) ; Kemaon, (Blinkworth) ; Choor and Punjee, (Royle). 
4. I. longifolia, imberbis; foliis margine scabris, seapo brevissimo unifloro, sepalis sublanceolatis 
integerrimis, tubo perianthii vix ullo, ovario elongato triguetro scapum adeequante, stigmatis lobis inte- 
gerrimis.—I. longifolia, (Royle) ; t. 91. f. 2. 
Hab. From Cashmere seed in Saharunpore Botanic Garden. 
5. Crocus sativus var. Cashmerianus. Tab. 90. fig.1. Plant in flower (0) 
Plant in leaf, . | 
—I. nepalensis. 
style and stigmata; 1 a. 
170. BurMANNIACES. 
