42 
The Apogon Section 
Unfortunately Mr Parish does not say how his plant, which grows in open coniferous forests at an 
elevation of from 5000 — 6000 feet, is to be distinguished either from /. Hartwegii or from /. tenax 
The colour of the flowers is light blue with darker veins and I take the expression “ bracts distant ” 
to mean that the spathe valves are set at some distance apart on the stem, — a feature that has already 
been mentioned as characteristic of both I. Hartwegii and /. tenax. 
On the whole, I am inclined to think that there is no specific difference between I. Hartwegii 
and /. tenax, but that this is only one more instance of a Californian species, which varies in colour 
in different localities. I hope shortly to obtain seeds of the San Bernardino plant and thus to be able 
to compare it with /. tenax from Oregon and Washington. 
t/. Purdy 1 
(Plate XI) 
•Eastwood in Proc. Calif. Acad. Sc Ser. III. i. 78, t. VII. fig. 2 (1897). 
•Gartenflora, t. 1222 (1886) sub nomine I. Douglasiana. 
Purdy in The Garden, Jan. 1st, 1898. 
Synonym. 
/. Douglasiana, • Regel Gartenflora, t. 1222 (1886). 
Distribution. The redwood region of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in California. 
This rare plant does not appear to have found its way into European herbaria. The description here given 
is based on plants sent by Purdy and now growing in my garden. 
Diagnosis. 
I. Purdyi imberbis ; /. bracteatae similis sed perianthii tubus linearis, elongatus, ovario duplo longior ; 
stigma truncatum. 
Description. 
Rootstock , very thin and wiry and producing very few, but thick, roots. 
Leaves, almost erect, thick, at first of a pale yellowish green, but becoming deep green when 
fully developed, ^ — £ by 12 in. 
Stem, 4 — 6 in., entirely covered with short, inflated, bract-like leaves. 
Spathe valves, i£ — 2 in. long, the outer slightly keeled, green, inflated. 
Pedicel, ^ in. in second flower, none in first ; growing eventually to £ and £ inch. 
Ovary, f in., tapering at either end, trigonal, with concave sides and a groove down each corner. 
Tube, i£ — 1£ in., yellowish green. 
Falls. The broadly lanceolate blade is equal in length to the wide wedge-shaped haft. The 
colour is a pale straw yellow veined conspicuously with brown purple. 
Standards, lanceolate, spreading, not erect, with wavy edges ; pale straw yellow very faintly veined 
with brown purple, slightly shorter than the falls. 
Styles, narrow, short, keeled. 
Crests, very large, triangular. 
Stigma, entire, not pointed as in I. bracteata. 
Filaments, broad at the base and tapering upwards, yellow, ciliate at the edges. 
Anthers, longer than the filaments, the sacs being well separated, pale mauve with deep purple 
edges. 
Pollen, pale yellow. 
Capsule, 1 in. long, much rounded, trigonal, narrowing abruptly at either end, at the top to a short 
beak, which consists of the remnant of the tube. 
Seeds, thick D-shaped or irregularly cubical, light brown or buff. 
Observations. 
This comparatively rare Iris is in some ways very similar to I. bracteata , from which, however, 
it is sharply distinguished by very obvious differences. The foliage of both consists of scanty, tough 
dark green leaves, those of /. bracteata being both longer and broader and less numerous than those 
of /. Purdyi. The flowers of both are yellow, those of /. bracteata being deeper in shade, but both 
have the curiously arranged brown crimson veins, which can be seen in I. Purdyi (Plate XI). The 
most obvious difference, especially when dealing with herbarium specimens, lies in the fact that the 
perianth tube of I. Purdyi is linear and over an inch long, while that of /. bracteata is funnel-shaped 
and less than half an inch long. A less noticeable but yet reliable point of difference is to be found 
Feb. 1 st, 1898, contains the statement that, on going more carefully into the matter, he had found that the proposed species 
came too near to /. Hartwegii to be distinguished by a specific name. 
The evidence was completed by a letter which I received from Parish in February 1912, in which he stated that in the 
end Foster failed to publish any description of the plant and that he himself had drawn attention to it in Erythrea (l.c.) under 
the name of I. Hartwegii var. australis. 
The Iris akin to, or identical with, I. missouriensis which grows in the same district, is mentioned under that species, and 
it is clear that this was not the plant which Foster was at one time inclined to name I. Parishii. 
