4^ HANDBOOK OF IRIljE.li. 



blade -h iu. broad, much sborter than the claw, with a pale patch at 

 the throat and a low orange -yellow crest; standards nearly as long, 

 oblanceolate-unguiculate, ^ in. broad. Style-branches an inch 

 long ; crests quadrate. Flower very fragrant. 



Var. Krelagei Kegel Auimad. 15 (Gartenfl. t. 279, fig. 2, 

 Sweet Brit. Flow. Gard. ser. ii. t. 189 ; Lodd. Bot. Cab. t. 189).— 

 Flower red-purple, varying greatly in shade, with more con- 

 spicuously veined claw, with a yellow crest down it. The common 

 wild form of the Caucasus. Nearly inodorous. 



Var. cYANEA Piegel Gartenfl. t. 797.— Limb of the falls slaty 

 blue, much variegated. 



Var. sopHENENsis Foster in Gard. Chron. 1885, i. 470.— Flower 

 smaller, more spreading, less tm-binate. Falls with a light red- 

 purple blade and long narrow claw with a wavy yellow crest. 

 Kharput, Asia Minor, Mrs. Barnum. Flowers in the middle of 

 February. 



Var. HisTRiotDEs Foster; Jom-n. Hort. 1891, 121, fig. 18. — 

 Falls much mottled with white and lilac, both on the claw and 

 broader orbiciilar blade. Eastern Anatolia, Bonniiller. 



Hab. Asia Minor to Persia and the Caucasus. For a full account of the 

 varieties see Foster in Gard. Chron. 1885, i. 507. 



143. I. HisTRio Keich. fil. in Bot. Zeit. 1871, 488; Garden 

 tab. 653, fig. 1. I. Libani Kent. Xiphion Histrio Hook. fil. in 

 Bot. Mag. t. 6033. — Bulb csespitose i in. diam. ; outer tunics 

 reticulated. Leaves 2 to a stem, acutely quadrangular, much over- 

 topping the flower. Stem not produced, 1-headed. Spatlie 

 1-flowered, 2-3 in. long; outer valve linear, green, clasping tightly 

 the tube. Perianth-tube exserted from the spathe ; limb lilac, 

 l-|-2 in. long ; blade of the fall ovate, shorter than the haft, with 

 a yellow line in the centre, bordered with white, and much spotted 

 with dark lilac ; standards as long, oblanceolate-unguiculate, J in. 

 broad. Style-branches pale lilac, an inch long ; crests lanceolate- 

 deltoid, much shorter than the blade. 



Hab. Mountains of Palestine. Introduced into cultivation 1873. Not 

 fragrant. Flowers in February. Scarcely more than a variety of I. reticulata. 



144. I. Bakeriana Foster in Bot. Mag. t. 7084. — Bulb ovoid ; 

 outer tunics with strong parallel fibres, connected by oblique 

 strands. Leaves 3-4 to a bulb, subulate, hollow, glaucous green, 

 with about 8 conspicuous ridges, 6-9 in. long at the flowering time, 

 furnished with a horny tip. Peduncle very short ; flower single. 

 Spathe cylindrical, 3 in. long; valves green, very unequal. Perianth- 

 tube 3 in. long, slightly exserted from the spathe; limb 3 in. long ; 

 falls with a long claw and short ovate reflexing blade, bright violet 

 on the edge, white in the centre with violet spots, with an incon- 

 spicuous yellow streak down the claw ; standards erect, oblanceo- 

 late, rather shorter, plain lilac. Style-branches an inch long; 

 crests large, subquadrate. 



Hab. Mountains of Armenia near Mardin. Introduced into cultivation 

 recently by the Kev. G. F. Gates. Gathered previously in Kurdistan in 1877, 

 by Mr. E. A. Floyer, and on the Anti-Lebanon range near the Euphrates in 

 1879, by Mrs. Danford. Very fragrant, with a scent of violets. Flowers in 

 England at the end of February. 



