POGONIRIS 137 



leaves are 1 8 in. long, an inch wide, falcate, and of 

 bluish green colour. They die down in winter. The 

 stems are slightly longer. The spathe valves are very 

 membranous, and so soon scariose that the plant looks 

 as if it had suffered in some way. The flowers are 

 dark purplish blue, the perianth tube hardly J in. long ; 

 falls obovate-cuneate, 3 in. long and ij in. wide; beard 

 dense with white orange-tipped hairs. The standards 

 are i\ in. long, ij in. wide, lighter in colour than the 

 falls; style arms, including the crests, 1^ in. long, the 

 crests deltoid denticulate. 



These plants, in spite of their place in this group 

 for convenience, are closely allied to /. pallida. They 

 differ in having a very short perianth-tube, and 

 this distinguishes them also from the following Varle- 

 gatae. 



89. I. variegata, Linn.; Curt. Bot. Mag., t. 16; 

 Red. Li/., t. 292 ; Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ., t. 334, fig. 

 761. In some varieties this species is highly ornamental. 

 The rhizome is stout, the leaves ensiform, slightly glau- 

 cous, I to 1 1 ft. long, an inch broad. The stems are as 

 long as the leaves, or rather longer, three or four headed ; 

 the spathes are two or three flowered, I \ to I \ in. long ; 

 valves oblong, very ventricose, green or subscariose at 

 flowering time ; pedicels very short. The perianth-tube 

 is yellowish green, cylindrical, f to I in. long ; the limb 

 2 to 2 1 in. long; the falls oblong-cuneate, I to \\ in. 

 broad, claret brown towards the tip, the centre much 

 veined with brown on a yellow ground ; beard bright 

 yellow ; standards oblong, bright yellow, the claw and 

 region immediately above veined with brown ; style arms 

 1 1 in. long including crests, which measure \ in. on the 

 inside line, and are of bright yellow colour, oblong- 

 deltoid in shape. A yellow variety is figured in The 

 Garden of Nov. 6, 1897. The variety De Bergii is very 

 richly coloured, and the dimensions given above are ex- 



