4 HANDBOOK OP IRIDK.T:. 



tube, which is 8-4 in. long: limb bright lilac-purple, 2-8 in. long; 

 falls with an obovate blade f in. broad, veined with bright yellow 

 and lilac-purple on a white ground at the throat, shorter than the 

 narrow claw; standards oblanceolate, erect, plain lilac, ^-^ in. 

 broad. Style-branches 1^ in. long, both narrowed gradually into 

 the claw ; crests lanceolate. 



Hab. Greece, Crete, the Ionian Islands, and Asia Minor, ascending the 

 hills to 5000 ft. Prof. Foster says that the Greek form is much nearer 

 unguicularis than the Asia Minor plant, and forms a connecting link between 

 the two. 



7. I. TENUiFOLiA Pall. Iter. iv. 802 ; App. 688, tab. 7, fig. 2. 

 XeiibecJcia tenuij'olia Alefeld. loniris tenuifulia Klatt. — Tufts crowded, 

 surrounded by many rigid truncate brown sheaths 2-3 in. loug, 

 often breaking up into fibres. Leaves thick, rigid, pale green, narrow 

 linear. Stems very short, 1-headed. Spathes 2-flowered, 8-4 in. 

 long ; outer valves lanceolate, moderately firm ; pedicels obsolete 

 or short. Perianth-tube slender, 8-4 in. long ; limb lilac, l|^-2 in, 

 long; blade of the falls oblong, ^ in, broad, much shorter than the 

 broad haft ; standards nearly as long, oblanceolate-oblong. Style- 

 branches an inch long ; crests large, lanceolate. Capsule ovoid, 

 '1-1|- in. long. 



Hab. Through Central Asia from the Caspian to Dahuria and Mongolia. 

 Var. thianschaiiica Maxim, is a robust variety with broader longer leaves, and a 

 longer peduncle. Griffith's 5902, from Afghanistan, probably belongs here. I 

 cannot clearly distinguish I. Locziji Kanitz Plant. Expedit. Szechen. 58, 

 tab. 6, fig. 2. 



8. I. RUTHENicA Dryand. in Ait. Hort. Kew. edit. 2, i. 117 ; 

 Bot. Mag. t. 1128 & 1398. I. caspitosa Pallas. loniris nithenica 

 Klatt. — Rootstock slender, wide-creeping; tufts generally crowded; 

 sheaths short, splitting into fibres. Leaves linear, thin, 8-12 in, 

 long at the flowering time, ^-^ in, broad. Stem slender, often 

 3-G in. long, but sometimes obsolete. Spathe solitary, 1 flowered, 

 l-lj in. long; valves green, lanceolate, turgid ; pedicel very short. 

 Perianth-tube twice as long or as long as the ovary ; limb lilac, 

 1|— 1^ in. long; falls with an oblong blade ^ in. broad, rather 

 shorter than the haft ; standards as long, oblanceolate-unguiculate, 

 J in. broad. Style-branches an inch long ; crests deltoid. Capsule 

 subglobose, ^ in. long. 



Var. I. UNIFLORA Pallas. — Leaves rather broader. Valves of the 

 spathe shorter and broader. Perianth-tube very short, 



Hab. From North China, Mongolia, and Manchuria, through Siberia and 

 Central Asia to Transylvania. 



9. I, Haussknechtii Bornm. PI. Exsic. Anatol. No. 1864. — 

 Root-leaves linear, firm, glabrous, 6-8 in, long, | in. broad. Stem 

 slender, 1-headed, 6-8 in. long, bearing 1-2 reduced leaves. Spathe 

 2-flowered ; valves oblong-lanceolate, 2-2i in. long, green at the 

 base and middle, whitish at the edge and tip. Perianth-tube an 

 inch long; limb pale yellow; falls 2 in. long, with an oblong- 

 lanceolate blade ^ in. broad ; standards erect, oblanceolate-unguicu- 

 late, 1^ in, long. Style-crests small, deltoid. 



Hab. Asia Minor; district of Amasia, Bornmullerl Habit of I. ensata, 

 but leaves linear. 



