68 



Syn. Xiphion latifolium (Miller, Diet. ed. 6). J. pyrenaica 

 (Bubani, Sched. Grit. p. 3). The " Iris bulbosa major sive Anglica " 

 of Parkinson. 



Pig. Bot. Mag. t. 687 ; Redoute, Lil. t. 212 ; Garden, xxxi. 

 1887), p. 212. 



Char act. Bulbs with brown coats, which," when old, tend to 

 become shaggy by splitting up into fibres at the top. Leaves stouter 

 and broader than in I. xiphium, not appearing until the spring. The 

 stem bears two, sometimes three flowers. Spathe-valves ventricose. 

 Pedicels short, so that the ovary is not, as frequently in I. xiphium, 

 exserted. Blade of fall rounded, with wavy edge, suddenly narrowed 

 to claw, which itself gradually narrows to its attachment. Capsule 

 large, a long pointed oval, with three flattened sides. The seeds, 

 rounded or pyriform, with wrinkled coats, though large, do not fill the 

 cavities of the chambers. Wild specimens are usually of a rich deep 

 blue, with a conspicuous golden signal on the fall. The cultivated 

 varieties range from blue, through various hues of purple, to almost 

 red, and many are variously mottled or blotched. There is also a 

 pure white variety. 



Time. July, succeeding J. xiphium. 



Hab. French and Spanish Pyrenees, stretching in the West of 

 Spain as far as Burbia. 



11. I. FILIFOLIA. Boissier, Voy. Esp.p. 602, t. 170. (From 

 thread-like, filiform leaves.) 



Syn. Xiphion filifolium (Klatt. Linnsea, xxiv. p. 571). "Iris 

 bulbosa Africana serpentrise caule." l< The purple or murrey-coloured 

 bulbous Barbary Flower-de-luce," Parkinson. 



Fig. Bot. Mag. t. 5928, and also t. 5981 ; Boissier, as above. 



Charact. Bulb like that of J. xiphium, except that the outer 

 tunics are more slender, and veined rather than ribbed. Stem from a 

 foot to a foot and a half in height, with foliage like that of I. xiphium, 

 but, as a rule, narrower, and in the typical form quite filiform. 

 Flower like that of a turbinate I. xiphium, save that sometimes at 

 least a distinct perianth tube of nearly an inch in length is present, 

 that the blade of the fall is more ovate, less rounded, the^standard 

 broader, more obovate, with a notched apex, and the whole flower is 

 either of a dark violet or of a rich red-purple, especially full and 

 dark on the blade of the fall, and that the " signal" patch of orange 

 on the blade of the fall is large, and ends broadly and abruptly, not 

 narrowed to a point ; in the median line of the patch is a slight 

 raised ridge. The capsule, like that of J. xiphium, is long, narrow, 

 rounded, trigonal, with deeply grooved sides, often clavate, and the 

 seeds are small, numerous, and wedge-shaped or angular. The 

 sheaths of the first leaves which pierce the ground are spotted or 

 blotched with purple. 



Time. End of June. 



