ii2 THE BOOK OF THE IRIS 



wonderful, but in size also it excels, a fine flower attain- 

 ing a diameter of 7 in., with standards 5 in. high. The 

 rhizome is short. The leaves are described as under a 

 foot long at flowering time, f in. broad, but when the 

 plant is well grown they may be as large or larger than 

 those of /. susiana. The stem is short ; spathes 5 to 6 

 in. long ; valves pale green, lanceolate. . The perianth- 

 tube is ij in. long; limb often about 4 in. long ; falls 

 obovate-cuneate, 3 in. broad ; standards orbicular, erect 

 and inflexed. The style-branches are red-brown an 

 inch broad with large reflexed quadrate crenate crests. 



There is considerable variation of colour, but the 

 " note " of the plant is a peculiarly charming combination 

 of crimson spots and blue or violet veins on a white or 

 creamy yellow ground. Sir Michael Foster describes a 

 flower of his own production as follows : Falls creamy 

 yellow ; ground marked with crimson spots, concentrated 

 at the centre into a dark crimson "signal"; standards 

 nearly pure white marked with very thin violet lines 

 hardly visible at a distance. In the Botanical Magazine 

 the standards are represented as light violet, the veins, 

 spots and signal of the fall purple. The flower, as a 

 rule, may be about as large or rather smaller than /. 

 susiana. Native of the southern slope of the Lebanon 

 range at an altitude of 2000 ft. 



63. I. Gatesii, Foster in Card. Chron., July 5, 1890, 

 ii. 18, fig. 3 ; Garden, Feb. 18, 1893, 1 3> P late ^97- 

 " The Prince of Irises." This wonderful species was 

 named by Prof. Sir Michael Foster after the Rev. T. G. 

 Gates of the American Mission at Mardin, through 

 whose assistance Sintenis, Herr Max Leichtlin's collector, 

 came to know of it. It comes near to /. susiana. The 

 rhizome is still more compact and the foliage smaller, 

 shorter, and narrower, and of a darker green than in 

 susiana. The stem is taller, reaching a height of I \ or 

 even 2 ft., and the flower also is larger, the falls being 



