310 Pr(]f- Don's Descriptions of the India)) Sjiecies of Iv'is, 



group, which is principally confined to Asia and America, is distinguished by 

 having the spathes frequently leafy, a tube continuous with the ovarium, and 

 often very short ; by their beardless sepals ; and by the petals being smaller 

 and spreading. Tlie species of this group produce their flowers generally later 

 in the season ; a circumstance which, together with their being chiefly inha- 

 bitants of a drier climate, renders the protection of the petals less necessary. 

 Our own Flora affords two examples of this section in Iris fetidissima and 

 Pseudacoriis. The very early period of flowering of the Iris fcetidissima may 

 be supposed to aftord a strong ol)jeetion to the theory as to the use of the con- 

 vergent petals in tlie first group of the genus ; but tlie plant is well known to 

 occur only in sheltered situations, where a considerable degree of protection 

 is afforded to the flowers. Of the five Indian species, which I shall now pro- 

 ceed to describe, two belong to the first group, and three to the second. 



Sect. 1. EuiRis. 



Perianthii tuhus distinctus, subinfundibuliformis. Sepala recurvata, barbata. 

 Pctalu maxima, invicem apice incunibenti conniventia. Spathce persœpè 

 scdrioso-membrunucece. 



I . /. iiepfi/oisis, barljata ; scapo tereti leevi plurifloro foliis ensiformibus ple- 

 rumque longiore, spathis vix foliaceis subcequalibus, sepalis omnibus emar- 

 ginatis, ovario obtuse trigono perianthii tubi infundibuliformis vix longi- 



tudine. 

 Iris nepalcnsis. JJ'all.Cat.n.bObO. Liud/. in Bof. Reg. t.S\8. Roi/Ie III. t. 90. 



/■•2. 

 I. japonica. Thunh. in Linn. Trans. 2. p. 327 ? 



I. squalens. Ejasd. Fl. Japon, p. 33 ? 



(3. scapo indiviso subbifloro foliis breviore. 



Habitat in Nepaliœ montibus {IFallich) ; in Emodi montibus Bychuky Ghaut 



inter Pabur et Tonse, et in Surkunda ad Vicuin Bhala Gau. Royle. 2/ . 



(v. s. sp. in Ilerbb. Wall, et Royle.) 



Rhizoma oblongum, teres, crassum, ramosum, repens, odore gratissimo Iridis 

 florentime. Scapas erectus, teres, la? vis, subflexuosus, fistulosus, 2 — 5-florns, 

 pedalis v. sesquipedalis. Folia ensiformia, acuminata, nervosa, subfal- 



