36 



" of botanical interest only," and well-nigh useless for garden 

 purposes. 



The species stretches eastward along the Caucasus and the 

 North of Persia, but when we reach Turkestan we find the 

 typical form replaced by a larger, more vigorous, and really 

 handsome plant, I. caucasica major, or turkestanica. In 

 this, compared with the type, the foliage is more abundant and 

 ample, the stem more obvious, carrying often as many as five 

 or six flowers, each of which, while resembling the type in general 

 form, is larger, has the lateral expansions of the claw of the fall 

 more developed, and possesses a colour which, though somewhat 

 variable in exact hue, is on the whole a rich yellow. The yellow 

 is deepest on the blade of the fall, the effect being heightened by a 

 conspicuous orange ridge or crest, while the lateral expansions of 

 the claw are pale and usually transparent. The standards are, 

 as in Juno Irises in general, insignificant and extended horizon- 

 tally ; the crests of the styles, also yellow, are large and con- 

 spicuous. It is a handsome plant, well worthy of cultivation. 



I have obtained from Kharput, in Armenia, another variety, 

 which resembles the above in its ample glossy foliage, and in 

 possessing an obvious stem, though this is covered by the decur- 

 rent bases of the leaves ; it differs in the flower, though large, 

 being more compact, with less prominent, and firmer, lateral ex- 

 pansions of the claw. In form it is exceedingly graceful, but, 

 unfortunately, lacks the golden colour of the Turkestan form, 

 possessing the greenish-yellow of the type. There also exist in 

 Asia Minor other forms, differing in various ways from the 

 type ; but none of these appear to be of value for the garden. 



The name J. caucasica var. major has also been given to a 

 plant inhabiting Turkestan, which differs in many respects from 

 the plant which I have just described under that naiie. This 

 has also been distributed under the name of J. orchioides (fig. 22), 

 and since it seems to me to differ from I. caucasica by characters 

 of specific value, I propose to retain the latter name. In I. 

 caucasica turkestanica (I propose to use this term in order to 

 avoid the confusion attached to the word "major ") the stem, 

 though it exists, reaches at most a few inches in height, and is 

 almost wholly hidden by the bases of the leaves, the internodes 

 being invisible, or nearly so ; in /. orchioides the stem is often 

 two feet in height, and the nodes are separated by clearly visible 



