60 



FIG. 37. IBIS BETICULATA var. HISTBIOIDES 



violet hue. In some specimens the whole blade and claw outside the 

 ridge is of a uniform blue, broken only by veins of a deeper tint ; in 

 g . others the margin only of the 



fall is so coloured, and the 

 region between the margin 

 and the median ridge is, as 

 in Histrio, of a creamy white 

 broken by irregular dots and 

 blotches of blue and by im- 

 perfect veins ; and interme- 

 diate forms occur. The rela- 

 tively large standards and 

 styles are of a nearly uni- 

 form blue. The ripe capsule, 

 short and blunted, is half, or 

 in some specimens wholly, 

 buried in the soil. In a warm 

 atmosphere the flower is dis- 

 tinctly fragrant. 



Time. March ; but vari- 

 able, sometimes as early as sophenensis, sometimes as late as or later 

 than Krelagei. 



Hab. Armenia, district of Amasia. 



I. BETICULATA var. PUBPUBEA, Max Leichtlin. 



Charact. Leaves two or three inches high, or less, at flowering. 

 Tube short, hardly longer than the spathe-valves. The median ridge of 

 the fall, unlike the case of var. Krelagei^ continued all along the claw. 

 Colour a fine deep red-purple, especially dark on the blade of the fall. 

 The sides of the claw of a uniform colour, and not broken up into veins 

 as in var. Krelagei. The flower is intermediate between Krelagei and 

 sophenensis. Not distinctly fragrant. 



Time. March, at about the same time as var. Krelagei. 



Hab. Asia Minor, neighbourhood of Egin. 



I. BETICULATA. Varieties arising in cultivation. , 



The late Rev. Mr. Nelson raised a form which resembles" the type 

 in every way, except that the flower is larger. This is sometimes 

 spoken of as I. reticulata var. major. He also raised some seedlings of 

 the form of the type, but in which the deep violet is replaced by a 

 slight, somewhat slaty blue ; this is sometimes spoken of as I. reticulata 

 var. cserulea. Mr. Max Leichtlin has since raised seedlings similar 

 in form, of different shades of light blue, one of which is of a very 

 large size. 



3. I. BAKEBIANA. Foster, Bot. Mag. vol. xlv. No. 539 

 (Nov. 1889), t. 7084. (After Mr. Baker.) 



Pig. As above. Garden, vol. xxxvii. (1890), p. 462. 



