1S) 
as 
one 
the peculiar color of the flower. He states that it was found, “ on 
the banks of the Mississippi near New Orleans; discovered by 
Mr. Enslen, Collector to the Prince Lichtenstein of Austria. 
Flowers of a beautiful copper colour, veined with purple.” 
Dykes, in The Genus [ris (p. 84), gives the distribution of this 
species as the immediate vicinity of New Orleans. As a matter 
of fact, it is widely distributed in the Mississippi Valley, and oc- 
curs in the swamps from Southern Illinois and Missouri to Lou- 
isiana and Georgia. It seems to be particularly abundant in the 
Coastal Plain of the lower Mississippi. Small, in Addisonia (12: 
— 
7, 1927), describes it as forming numerous large and small colonies 
in the general vicinity of New Orleans, sometimes occurring in 
practically pure stands. 
Irts FortosA.—The leafy blue flag, /ris foliosa, is of special in- 
terest because of the hybrids which have been produced between 
itand /. fulva, This iris has evidently been confused with J. hexa- 
gona, a large, robust species, found on the Southern Atlantic 
Coast and along the Gulf of Mexico, usually growing in the rich 
black loam where there is an abundance of water. It is also late 
flowering, coming into bloom long after the other irises have 
ceased to flower. 
=o 
Iris foliosa was apparently first known as J. hexagona var. 
lamancet, being recorded as such by Lora S. La Mance and named 
but not described by Mr. J. N. Gerard (Garden & Forest, 1895, 
1896). The plant, however, was first clearly distinguished by 
Mackenzie and Bush in 1902 (Transactions of the Academy of 
Science of St. Louis, 12: 81), who stated that it, “ Grows in dense 
masses 1n low open dry woods and prairies in Kentucky, Hlinois, 
Missour1 and Kansas. This species is distinguished from Jris 
hexagona Walt., a species of the Southern States, to which it has 
been referred by Watson and other American botanists, by its 
smaller pedicelled flowers.” 
—" 
The flower stalk of ris foliosa is short, zig-zag, more or less 
prostrate and hidden by the leaves. There are usually two ter- 
minal flowers, as well as several in the axils of the leafy bracts. 
The falls are light bluish-purple, except near the base of the blade, 
where there are numerous white lines on either side of the clear 
yellow linear ridge which extends down the claw. The standards 
are light bluish in color, becoming pale, nearly white, towards the 
