POGONIRIS 125 



Leaves broader, flowers dark violet, and stem some- 

 times 6 to 9 in. long. 



var. olbiensis, Henon in Ann. Soc. Agric. Lyon, 

 viii. 462 , Hook., Bot. Mag., t. 6no. 



This var. olbiensis likes damp soil. 



73. I. Meda, Stapf, Bot. Polak, 20; Baker in Bot. 

 Mag., t. 7040 (does not agree with authentic descrip- 

 tion). While the beard of an Iris is very useful for 

 purposes of classification, it is not an absolute guide to 

 affinity. In general habit, rhizome, capsule, and seed, 

 this, as Sir Michael Foster points out, is an Oncocyclus, 

 but I keep it here for the sake of simplicity in arrange- 

 ment. The rhizome is small, slender, and compact, the 

 leaves linear, glaucous, for the most part erect, not 

 falcate, narrower than in /. iberica. The stem may be 

 6 in. long, but is variable. The perianth-tube is under 

 an inch long. The fall is narrowly elliptical, pointed, 

 spreading horizontally, but the blade reflexed on itself, 

 greenish yellow in colour, marked with thick purple 

 veins ; the beard is linear, thick with orange-coloured 

 hairs, continued in front of the style, and ending 

 against an oval, well-defined, " signal" patch of deep, 

 almost black purple. The standards are elliptical, rather 

 larger than the fall, greenish-yellow veined with brown. 

 The style is narrow, ending in two small triangular 

 crests ; it is marked with rows of brownish dots. The 

 flowers are sweetly scented in some plants, a rare feature 

 in Oncocyclus. It is a native of Persia, and requires the 

 treatment of the Oncocyclus section. 



II. Biflorae. 



A. Leaves linear, flowers yel- 

 low. 



Rhizome wide creeping ; 

 leaf-sheaths not split into 

 fibres ; crests lanceolate 74. I. ARENARIA 



