34 



stalk, slips over the edge of the bract, catches there, and the 

 force of the flower-stalk being less than the resistance of the 

 bract, it cannot be pulled back again by any power of its own. 

 After flowering the flower-stalk becomes more woody and 

 stronger, and thus is able to recover itself if it catches against 

 the edge of the bract, which is however not likely to happen, 

 because it is raised upwards beyond contact with that organ. 

 In conclusion, M. Morren compares the mechanism which 

 causes the apparent catalepsy of Physostegia to the escape- 

 ment of a watch, where a hooked lever stops the wheel and 

 regulates the movements. 



G2. IRIS dejlexa. See no. 42, page 25, of the miscellaneous matter of 

 this vohmie. 



Upon the subject of this plant I have received the follow- 

 ing memorandum from the Hon. and Rev. W. Herbert, who 

 is specially attending to the whole order Iridaceae. 



" Having just received the new No. of the Register, I see 

 your quotation of Iris deflexa with erroneous statements con- 

 cerning it, extracted from the Floral Cabinet. I have the 

 ])lant ; it came from Birmingham with that name, and I have 

 flowered it. I have also seen it in flower at Osborne's nur- 

 sery, where it had endured the winter of 1838, as it has last 

 winter here. It is Iris nepalensis of the Bot. Register, and 

 identical with the specimens of Iris nepalensis from Kamoon. 

 It is utterly untrue that it is in any degree tender, and it has 

 no disposition to have a flexuous and deflexed stalk, which 

 was the consequence of cultivating a perfectly hardy plant 

 under glass supposing it to be tender. Furthermore it is a 

 variety of Iris Germanica, not distinguished by any feature 

 except the size and tint of the flower. I may take this oppor- 

 tunity of adding, that the plant figured in the Bot. Mag. as 

 Iris subbiflora is an Italian variety of Iris Germanica ; and 

 that the Lisbon Iris subbiflora, which I possess, is very diffe- 

 rent from it. The true name of the Iris figured in the Floral 

 Cabinet as deflexa is Iris Germanica, var. Nepalensis, see 

 Bot. Reg. 10. 818. It is forced with the same facility as the 

 European varieties, by introducing it for a few days into the 

 stove in February." 



