Classification 105 



In " Species Plantarum" Linnaeus included some 

 other species [as he regarded them] of Iris, which he 

 described, in part, as having the corollas bearded, 

 and in subsequent editions he added a few others 

 which also he so described in part; and each of several 

 of the latter (Iris florentina, Iris sambucina and Iris 

 squalens) he described, in respect to beard and stem, 

 in the same words ("Iris corallis barbatis, caule foliis 

 altiore") of his description of beard and stem of Iris 

 germanica, and then added that it was like Iris ger- 

 manica ("Simillima I. germanicse") except in several 

 particulars which he specified, but he gave southern 

 Europe as the habitat. 



In Iris germanica the beard is confined to the midrib 

 of the falls, and, Linnaus having likened to Iris ger- 

 manica some other species so bearded, in time this 

 species came to be regarded as the type of many 

 species of tall bearded Irises (tall as compared with 

 Iris pumila and other dwarf species) in which the 

 beard is confined to the midrib, and so the name 

 "German", derived from the name of the species 

 named "germanica", was applied to all of them as 

 a group, without any regard to the matter of habitat. 

 So it seems to be quite apparent that when "German" 

 was first applied to the members of the germanica 

 group it was understood as indicating merely resem- 

 blance in matters of form to the species germanica, 

 and that in time the meaning became perverted. 



"German", as the term is now understood, as 

 applied to the so-called group of Irises, is a misnomer. 

 No species included in the group has ever been known 



