78 



VI 



Var. KHARPUT. Stem a foot or more high, but wholly hidden 

 by the clasping bases of the eight or more distichously arranged leaves, 

 which, six inches or more in length, narrow more gradually towards the 

 point than in the type, and have a less conspicuous horny margin. 

 Flowers five or so, sessile, in the axils of the upper leaves, three inches 

 or so across, of a greenish yellow, except the median orange ridge of the 

 fall. The claw of the fall has hardly any lateral wings, and the blade 

 is large and oval. The standards are larger than in the type, bent 

 vertically downwards, with the edges sharply curled in so as to form a 

 channel. Crests of style large and quadrate. The whole aspect of 

 the plant is^very different from both the type and the var. major. 



Time. March. 



Hab. The Caucasus, Kurdistan, Armenia, Turkestan. The var. 

 major (turkestanica) is found in Turkestan ; the var. Kharput in 

 Armenia, near Kharput. 



19. I. ORCHIOIDES. Carriers, Rev. Hort. 1880, p. 337, 

 fig. 68. (After Orchis, " the Orchid-like Iris.") 



Lit. Baker, Bot. Mag. xlvi. (April 1890), t. 7111 ; Foster, Gard. 

 Chron. 1889, i. 588. 



Syn. I. caucasica var. major (Maximo wicz, Act. Hort. Petrop. 



p. 417 ; Bull. Acad. St. Petersb. x. (1880) p. 688). 



Fig. Baker ; Carriere, as above. 



Charact. Bulb very large, sometimes as large as a goose's egg ; 

 fleshy roots, much less developed than in 

 T. caucasica. Stem a foot and a half or 

 two feet, bare in the internodes between 

 the clasping leaves, which are longer, 

 narrower, more gradually pointed towards 

 the apex than in I. caucasica, of a more 

 glossy green, especially on the upper sur- 

 face, with the horny margin much less 

 marked. Flowers from two to three 

 inches across, of a rich, full yellow, 

 generally free from greenish tinge, with a 

 bright orange ridge, and variable dark 

 violet spots, blotches, or lines on the fall. 

 Wings of claw, so conspicuous in I. cau- 

 casica, almost absent. Spathe-valves 

 green, narrow, clasping the tube, not in- 

 flated as in I. caucasica. 



Time. March or April, rather later than J". caucasica. 



Var. I. caucasica var. cserulea (Regel, Descr. PI. Nov. ix. (1884) 

 p. 37) differs from above only in colour, which is a pale blue or 

 lavender, except that the ridge of the fall and its surroundings are 

 yellow, with lavender blotches ; sometimes the whole blade is a 

 creamy yellow. 



St. 



FIG. 53- IBIS OBCHIOIDES. 



