14G ENGLISH BOTANT. 



Var. 7, Bastardi. 



I. Bastardi, Borcau, FI. du Contr. de la Fr. ed. iii. p. 635. 



Sepals pale yellow, without an orange spot at the base of the oblong- 

 oval lamina. Petals the size of those of var. (6, but rather abruptly 

 attenuated into the claw, as in var. a. 



In ditches, marshes, and by the sides of rivers and ponds. Common, 

 and universally distributed. I am unable to give the distribution of 

 the varieties in Britain. Var. a I have not observed about London; 

 but a plant which I brought to my garden from the marshes between 

 Sandwich and Deal, on flowering proved to be I. Pseud-acorus of 

 Boreau. Var. 3 is the only form I have seen by the Thames and 

 its tributaries, and I have specimens of it also from Swanbister, Orkney, 

 and Seton, Hadduigtonshire. Var. y appears to be rare, and I have 

 never met ■with it myself; but I have seen a specimen from Lord 

 Mansfield's fish-ponds, near Highgate ; it is said to have occurred in 

 Cambridgeshire ; and was also found in Ayrshire by Mr. James Smith, 

 of A}'r. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Summer. 



Rootstock as thick as a man's finger or thicker, dark brown, the 

 flesh tmged vnth red, especially after it has been cut for a short time. 

 Flowering stem 2 to 4 feet high, commonly with branches from the 

 axils of the upper leaves. Spathe with acute valves, which are nearly 

 wholly herbaceous. Flowers 3 to 4 inches across, the sepals usually 

 Avith purple lines on the claw, which diverge in a small rhomboidal- 

 oblong space at the base of the lamina : in vars. a and /3 this rhom- 

 boidai space is of an orange-yellow, and the rest of the lanima bright 

 yellow ; but in var. y this space is of the same pale yellow colour as 

 the rest of the lanima of the sepal. Petals and stigmas pale yellow. 

 Anthers purplish-brown. Capsule about 3 niches long, at length pen- 

 dulous, the valves ultimately sepai-ating at the apex, rolling back and 

 scattering the seeds. Seeds about -\ inch across, appearing as if they 

 were flattened by the mutual pressure, so that they stand in double 

 rows in each cell like rouleaux of coin ; testa dry as soon as the seed is 

 ripe. 



I can find no sufiiciently distinctive characters to separate the three 

 species which Boreau includes under the Linnean I. Pseud-acorus. 



Yellow Water Iris. 

 French, Iris fau.e-acore. German, Waeser Scliivertel. 



Everyone mnst have observed the bright yellow flowers of this pretty plant, 

 enlivening the banks of our rivers and reedy ditches in June and July. It is sup- 

 posed to have furnished the heralds with the de%ace called the " fleur-de-lys," the 

 national bearings of France adopted, according to tradition, by Louis VII., and de- 

 riving its name fi-om the river Lys, on the borders of Flanders, on the banks of which 



