CHAPTER XVIII 



Nepalenses. 



(Irises with a bristly winter bud neither rhizomatous 

 nor bulbous.) 



Perianth-tube l in. long . I. NEPALENSIS. 

 Perianth-tube very short . I. COLLETTII. 



139. I. nepalensis, Don.; Sweet, Brit. Fl. Card., 2nd 

 ser., t. II ; Foster in Bulbous Irises, figs. 29, 30, 31, 58 ; 

 pp. 49, 50, 51, 84; /. decora, Wall. This must not be 

 confounded with the Iris nepalensis of Wallich, which is 

 figured in the Botanical Register, t. 8 1 8, and is merely a 

 variety of /. germanica, or, as Mr Baker makes it, the /. 

 deflexa of Knowles and West. In its resting condition 

 this plant consists in a bud, covered entirely by the 

 fibrous remains of the old leaves, and from which pro- 

 ceed a number of fleshy roots, much like those of a Juno 

 Iris but more numerous, throng-like, and more uniform 

 in size. The blade of the fall spreads horizontally and 

 bears a median ridge which extends along the claw and is 

 fringed or even cut up into irregular hairs. On account 

 of that feature Mr Baker places this species in Evansia, 

 but it is merely a parallelism, of which there are many 

 in the genus Iris, that does not afford any evidence of 

 relationship. As the plant is not in cultivation, is not 

 very ornamental, and is rather difficult to grow, I may 

 refrain from further description. It is worth mention 

 as the type of this section, which has descended probably 

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