APOGON 63 



position out of doors, or on border indoors, or grow in 

 pots, a summer dry treatment is then easily managed. 

 The flowering season is from the end of September to 

 end of March and even in April. It flowers out of 

 doors during mild v/eather all through the winter, is 

 invaluable for cutting, and flowers should be taken in 

 bud to open indoors. The native country is Algeria 

 and there it appears to flower in January and February. 



2. I. cretensis, Janka, Baker in Bat. Mag., t. 6343. 

 /. stylosa var. angustifolia, Boiss. This is a near ally of 

 /. unguicularis^ but the leaves are much narrower, 6 to 

 15 in. long, r*2 to in. broad. The Greek form, Sir 

 Michael Foster says, is much nearer unguicularis than the 

 Asia Minor plant and forms a connecting link between 

 the two. The leaf-sheaths of this species do not split 

 into fibres. The tube is 3 to 4 in. long ; limb bright 

 lilac purple, 2 to 3 in. long ; falls with obovate blade, 

 | in. broad, veined with bright yellow and blue-purple 

 on a white ground at the throat, shorter than the 

 narrow claw ; standards oblanceolate, erect, plain lilac, 

 \ to \ in. broad. The style arms are l| in. long, 

 gradually narrowed into the claw ; crests lanceolate. 

 It is native of Greece, Crete, the Ionian Islands and 

 Asia Minor, ascending to 5000 ft. This species is 

 best perhaps treated like /. unguicularis. It is not nearly 

 so ornamental. 



3. I. humilis, M. Bieb. Fl. Taur. Cauc. y i. 33. 

 The rhizome of this plant is described as wide creeping 

 but a tuft in the Cambridge Botanic Garden does not 

 suggest that character. The rudimentary leaves are 

 fibrous and the leaves proper are from 6 in. to a foot 

 in length and J in. wide. This is the third of the 

 stemless species, and as the perianth-tube is only about 

 2 in. long, the flowers appear low down among the 

 foliage. The falls, with nearly round blades, have a 

 long cuneate haft ; the standards are oblanceolate, and 



