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Iris, not a bulbous Iris properly so called, but one, nevertheless, 

 which presents certain striking affinities to the Juno group. 

 As I said, the Juno group, so far as we know at present, stops 

 eastward at Afghanistan and the Punjaub. Still further east, 

 in the kingdom of Nepaul, is found an 

 Iris, unlike any other Iris, the I. nepa- 

 lensis of Don (figs. 29 and 30), the 

 I. decora of Wallich (the 

 I. nepalensis of Wallich is 

 quite a different plant, being 

 merely a variety of /. ger- 

 manicd). In its resting 

 condition this Iris consists 

 of a small bud, wholly 

 hidden and covered up by 

 the fibrous remains of the old leaves (fig. 31), 

 and from the base of the bud hang down 

 a number of fleshy roots, very much like 

 those of a Juno Iris, only more numerous, 

 narrower, more thonglike, and more uni- 

 form in size. The whole root, which in a 

 way recalls that of a Hemerocallis, may be 

 compared to that of a Juno Iris, the bases of 

 the old leaves of which, instead of forming 

 the carefully inwrapped membranous coats 

 and fleshy tunics which make up the bulb 

 surrounding the central bud, have been 

 broken up into an apparently irregular nest 

 of fibres and bristles. This analogy in 

 regard to the resting root between the Iris 

 of which I am speaking and a Juno Iris is, 

 moreover, carried into the flower. In J. 

 nepalensis, as in a Juno Iris, the standards, 

 though they are not diminished in size, 

 FIG. 30. IRIS NEPALENSIS. tend to spread horizontally ; the fall bears 

 a very conspicuous median ridge, toothed or 

 even cut up into a beard, and the crests of the style are largely 

 developed. Moreover, as in most Juno Irises, the flower appears 

 while the leaves are as yet young and short. So that, not only 

 in its root but in its flower, I. nepalensis comes nearer to a Juno 



