APPENDIX. 



of the hamlet lie for centuries exposed, each in his collapsing coffin of wood, 

 poised among the Indigoferas upon the pebbly slope of the hill. 



Iris Sp. (F 19) (/. Henryi) is a charming little grassy frailty that runs 

 about in the coarse hot turf, midway on the blazing hills about Kiai Chow, 

 and in April decks their gullies with a galaxy of milky-white (or sometimes 

 palest blue) Moraea-flowers, giving the whole effect of Triteleias, but with a 

 peacock-eye to the fall. Unfortunately, even if seed is set, it was not possible 

 this year to procure any. 



Iris Sp. (F 29) is a type of the ensate Iris which forms by mats all over the 

 loess downs and path-sides of China, with thin flowers of blue on 4-inch scapes 

 in April. Several of the later numbers may refer to this species, or to others 

 closely allied in the same group. 



Iris Sp. (F 124) (/. goniocarpa), if it does not include two distinct species, 

 begins first in the rock-ledges of the Feng-S'an Ling above Wen Hsien, is seen 

 below the town on hot bare banks outside the wall, and again on rock-ledges and 

 in and out among scant scrub above Chago — a grassy lovely Iris, suggesting a 

 smaller I. unguicularis, with the brindlings and feline mottlings of I. tectorum 

 over its broad and crested lavender falls. But it then, if the same, erupts in 

 enormous abundance over the mid-alpine turf of Thundercrown, from 10,500 to 

 12,000 feet, enamelling all the sward with its delicate flowers. Abundant as it 

 is, however, this plant marks a comparative failure. The summer was torrid, 

 the pods were gone before we guessed, and instead of millions of seed we only 

 acquired a dozen or so, not yet distributed. F 270, however, marks an obscure 

 Iris, which may or may not be this, collected by Chinese retainers in the main 

 Min S'an, where this species, if it exists, was long over before we got there. 



Iris Sp. (F 90) (/. goniocarpa) occurs at lower elevations than the last 

 on the same Thundercrown turf, filling the much coarser longer grass on the 

 hot dry slopes at 7000 to 8000 feet, often, in opener places, developing quite a 

 fan of grassy foliage, with dozens of fine 6-inch stems, each balancing a single 

 lovely flower with lavender standard-blade and a fall of waxen pure white, 

 heavily margined and mottled with richest violet velvet. Even worse luck 

 have we so far had with this ; arduous and prolonged research yielded only 

 three capsules, and in these only two seeds still preserved a promise of vitality 

 (May- June). 



Iris Sp. (F 177) is a cousin of /. prismalica from the highest grass-ridges of 

 Tibet, with rather thin flowers of plum-colour and dark blue in August, from 

 its fine dark grassy nets of foliage. 



Iris Sp. (F 276) lives on the hottest bare banks of loess about Siku, and 

 again crops out in the Nan Ho Valley. It is a strange Moraeoid species, with 

 fans of broad tectorum-like leafage, and tall, very graceful branching stems of 

 12 to 24 inches, displaying erect flowers, rather small and fugacious, of velvety 

 texture and greyish tone, the falls being mottled with hazel-brown on a pale 

 background. It blooms in July-August and is soon ripe in seed. 



Iris Sp. (F 413) is a small species from level loess pans on the Akropolis of 

 Siku It belongs to the tvpe of F 29, but seems much littler and slighter in every 



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