396 



CALIFORNIA.— SUPPLEMENT. 



[Iridece. 



For the following observations on N. American Irides we are indebted to the Honourable and Rev. Wm. 

 Herbert of Spofforth : — " I believe that no bearded Iris has yet been discovered in America, the only ex- 

 ception being the alleged pubescence of the base of the petals (not sepals) in I. hexagona ; Walt. Fl. Car. 

 a plant erroneously confounded by Michaux with I. Virginica. L. — (germine sub-trigono apieulato, caule 

 1-2 furcato, furca superiore semper subaequali. mst.) — whereas hexagona, of which there are several varieties 

 from Texas, New Orleans, and other parts of the southern states (germine hexagono, caule indiviso, floribus 

 inferioribus axillaribus. mst.) has not the forked stalk which distinguishes all the numerous varieties of the 

 former. /. lacustris is reported to have bearded sepals, but I suspect it will be found to have rather crests, 

 like I. cristata, of which it has precisely the aspect, a fact which I shall not have an opportunity of verifying 

 before the spring. I also doubt the truth of any American Iris having a fistulous stalk, that remarkable 

 feature being confined to the numerous varieties of /. Sibirica. I believe that Pursh's statement, that the 

 Missourian Iris of Lewis has fistulous stalks, simply implies that, whereas that plant has been erroneously 

 named Sibirica, Sibirica is fistulous, but I place no confidence in the fact as to Lewis's specimen. It is possi- 

 ble that I. Tohnieana, (mihi)* which in a dry state has much the aspect of I. Sibh-ica v. sanguinea, may be 

 Lewis's plant. t /. Sibirica v. sanguinea, has been separated by Continental botanists under the name 

 harnatophylla, with an allegation that its scape is solid, a statement which is quite incorrect. It is cer- 

 tainly a variety of Sibirica, having not only the fistulous stalk, but every other important feature of that 

 plant, especially the two gibbous teeth near the base of each sepal, which, though not recorded, are, I believe, 

 peculiar to that species, and rarely, if ever, obsolete. I. Beecheyaua has been confounded by the collector 

 with I. humilis, a plant of the Ukraine, found especially near Elizabethgrod ; as /. lluthenica has, on the 

 other hand, been confounded with it in Russia, from whence lluthenica has been sent with the wrong name 

 to the British nurserymen. /. Tohnieana may be at once distinguished from humilis by its strong thick 

 rootstalk. The plant most nearly allied to humilis is /. Cretica, mihi, found in Crete, and also near Napoli 

 di Romania, foliis subseptemuncialibus vix lineam latis acutis basi ampliatis marginibus eoriaceo-crispis, 3i 

 uneias solido i unc. ampliato libero, limbo biunciali. I apprehend it has never been observed that the true 

 character of the genus Iris is a short ventricose or somewhat funnel-shaped tube free from the style, and a solid 

 subcylindrical base which in some species is little more than a point of union, and in others is prolonged many 

 inches. This solid part of the tube is in some species of the same texture as the thick parts of the limb, in 

 others of the coriaceous texture of the germen from which it has in that case no decided point of separation 

 outwardly discernible. These important circumstances in the structure appear to have been neglected by 

 botanists. The true stigma of Iris is transverse below the crests of the style, and its form is very different 

 in different species : another most important feature which has been neglected, but it cannot be ascertained 

 in dry specimens. In the numerous native specimens I had seen of I. tenax, whether from Newfoundland 

 or the N. W. of America, the spathe is one-valved, the second valve being placed like a bracte an inch below, 

 on the stalk. A similar disturbance of the spathe takes place in /. Douglasiana v. bractcata." W. 

 Herbert. 



* Iris Tohnieana ; imberbis, foliis anguste (sub \ unc. latis) erectis acutis basi purpureis caule (bifloro) 

 solido nudo brevioribus, spatha bivalvi acuta subtriunciali germen alternate oblongum (vix) subsequanti, tubo 

 brevi (| unc. libero vix lineam solido) sepalis (ultra 2£ uncialibus) petala circiter biuncialia superantibus, styli 

 lobis ultra sesquiuncialibus (cristis bidentatis ?), perianthio caerulescente ? — I. hcematophylla var. Valametiana. 

 Herb, in Hook. Flor. Bor. Am. II. p. 206. 



Hab. Prope fluvium Walamet in Fl. Columbian] ex parte meridionali tendentem legit Tolmie. 



f I rather refer his to a race of Iris extending from the hills of Kentucky to Canada, J. Caurina (mihi) 

 folio i-f unc. latis vel ultra, caule bracteato simplici vel ramulo axillari, germine oblongo, tubo brevi amplo 

 parte solida brevissima. 



