XIPHION 167 



crests, which vary also in the margin, whether serrated 

 or not. Flowers in February or March, and usually 

 before the type. Is common in the Caucasus, spreading 

 into Persia and Asia Minor. 



1190. I. reticulata var. humilis, Foster in Bulbous 

 Irises, p. 59* This has red-purple flowers, and is one 

 of two dwarf* varieties, the other being the variety 

 cyanea. The flowers appear while the leaves are a few 

 inches in height. The tube is rarely longer than the 

 green spathe-valves ; the flower attains a height of about 

 2 inches, and is more compact than in other forms. 

 The fall has a narrow claw, from which the much 

 broader ovate-lanceolate blade is marked off by a slight 

 constriction. The blade has a bright orange ridge 

 continuing along the claw as an orange or yellow streak, 

 and about this orange is a zone of opaque creamy white, 

 broken up by dots and broken veins of dark purple. 

 The rest of the blade is of full rich red-purple colour, 

 on which the veins are hardly visible, contrasting 

 strongly with the creamy white zone. At the margin of 

 the claw the veins fuse into a similar red-purple ground 

 colour. Flowers in March between the var. sophenensis 

 and the var. Krelagei. A native of Asia Minor, near Van. 



1 190. I. reticulata var. cyanea, Regel, Gartenfl., 

 t. 797. Mr Baker describes the blade of the falls as 

 slaty-blue and much variegated. Sir Michael Foster, 

 referring, I believe, to the same plant in his Bulbous 

 Irises, says, " A few years ago there was introduced, 

 under the name of reticulata cyanea, a small dwarf variety, 

 which differs from both the type and Krelagei, not only 

 in being of a very striking blue the blue known as 

 cyanic, verging towards indigo but also in form, size, 

 stature, and in some other minor features." Again, 

 under the variety humilis, he remarks that it agrees with 

 this plant, save that the colour is a rich cyanic blue, and 

 the dots give place to veins. 



