Prof. Don’s Descriptions of the Indian Species of Iris. 311 
cata, glauco-viridia, scapo plerumque breviora, unciam et ultrà lata, in- 
fernè angustata. Flores fer’ omnind I. germanice. Spathe subæquales, 
lanceolatæ, acuminatæ,conduplicatæ, subfoliaceæ, margine scarioso-mem- 
branaceæ. Sepala 3 exteriora recurvato-patentia, spathulata, emarginata, 
violacea, inferne albicanti-variegata, barbà albâ copiosA munita, breviter 
unguiculata, elliptico-oblonga, profundiüs emarginata, invicem se con- 
vergentia, undulata, intensiüs colorata, costà prominenti; omnia preeter 
ad apicem margine integerrima: tubus infundibuliformis, obscurè tri- 
gonus, vix uncialis. Ovarium obtusè trigonum, -unciam longum. Stig- 
mata (Styli rami) bifida: lobis conniventibus, acutis, hinc leviter ser- 
rulatis. 
There can be no doubt that the present species comes very near to Iris ger- 
manica, and indeed the points which separate them are few, and these not 
strongly contrasted. That species is, however, distinguished by its shorter 
scariose and ventricose spathes, entire sepals, longer and slenderer tube, and 
lastly, by the more coarsely serrated lobes of its stigmas. The rhizoma has 
the fragrance of that of Iris florentina, and Dr. Royle informs me that it is 
employed by the natives for similar purposes. 
I suspect that this species will prove to be identical with the Iris japonica, 
notwithstanding the difference presented by the colour of their flowers, that 
of Thunberg’s plant being described to be white: for I have elsewhere re- 
marked upon the fallacious character afforded by colour, as a test of specific 
distinction, not only in this genus, but throughout the greater part of the Mo- 
nocotyledonous class, as is beautifully illustrated by the numerous cultivated 
varieties of Iris Xiphium and Xiphioides. A series of careful experiments are 
still wanting to determine the exact limits of species in this genus. 
The variety g. differs in nothing except in its shorter two-flowered scape, 
and there are cultivated specimens of nepalensis from the Calcutta Garden in 
the Wallichian Herbarium having this depressed character. In my character 
of the species given in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, I have described 
the stem as compressed and furrowed; but these appearances presented by the 
dried specimens prove to be the mere result of desiccation. | 
2. I. kamaonensis, barbata; scapo brevissimo unifloro, | tubo perianthii lon- 
VOL. XVIII. 2T 
