46 
The Apogon Section 
plants that General Grant Duff had given him in 1888. They had never once flowered nor have 
some roots that Foster gave me done any better. I believe, however, that some that he sent to 
the Cambridge Botanic Garden did flower there in a warm, dry position sheltered by the green- 
house walls. 
Judging from what I have seen in the south of France, I incline to believe that this Iris will 
only succeed in a very warm position in heavy soil, where it is kept quite dry, either naturally or 
artificially, for at least four months in summer. The soil should be rich in lime, and the plant 
would probably be best suited in that heavy red marl that is found among the rocks in the limestone 
regions on the Mediterranean coast. 
A curious point about this Iris is that seedlings by the end of their first season’s growth have 
formed small bulb-like rootstocks, with reticulated coats almost, if not quite, indistinguishable from 
those of /. reticulata. 
For examples of the seeds and capsules of this Iris, I am indebted to Herr Georg Egger 
of Jaffa. 
In the present state of our knowledge it seems impossible to say whether or no we ought to 
consider as mere forms of /. Grant Dujfii or as definite species three Irises which are either in 
commerce or else known to us from herbarium material, under the names of I. Aschersoni, 
I. melanosticta, I. tnasia. 
/. Aschcrsoni was mentioned by Foster and illustrated in The Garden, 1902, 1. p. 288, and 
stated to come from near Adana in Cilicia. The authority for the name is unknown, but the plants 
probably reached Foster from Sintenis through Max Leichtlin, or from Herr Siche of Mersina. At 
any rate the plant, as Foster knew it, is now in commerce and is certainly somewhat easier to flower 
than Grant Dujfii itself 1 . The actual flowers are of a somewhat greener yellow, and the falls are 
curiously fringed with irregular linear dark black purple dots. In some specimens a few larger linear 
blotches appear on the centre of the blade. The fibrous remains of old leaves on the rootstocks 
are perhaps slightly less rigid than those of /. Grant Dujfii, but there appears to be no other 
difference. In cultivation it requires the same treatment as /. Grant Dujfii. 
/. mclanosticla was described by Bornmuller in Gartenflora, 1907, p. 495, and was said to come 
from the Hauran on the east side of Jordan. The difference between it and I. Grant Dujfii (no 
mention was made of I. Aschersoni with its edging of small blackish dots) was stated to consist in 
the colour, which is a purer yellow and in the presence of four or five large linear black dots 
scattered irregularly over the blade of the falls. This plant is also in commerce now, and would 
seem to be at most a mere colour form of /. Grant Dujfii. There is a specimen in the Kew 
Herbarium obtained from the Hauran by Egger. 
The last member of this group, which is also probably a mere colour form of I. Grant Dujfii , 
comes from the neighbourhood of Siiverek in the district of Diarbekr in Northern Mesopotamia. The 
first mention of it in botanical literature occurs in an article by Foster in The Garden, 1902, 1. p. 288, 
as a purple-flowered relative of /. Grant Dujfii named /. Alassiae. No explanation was given of 
the name, nor was any full description of the plant known. In 1910 I found in the Kew Herbarium 
an unnamed Iris collected by Sintenis (no. 1219) (K) (B) (P), near Siiverek in 1888, which 
I recognised as identical with the sketch and dried segments of /. Massiae, preserved in Foster’s 
note-books. The explanation of the name became apparent, when Dr Stapf pointed out that 
Mons Masius was the ancient name of the Karadja Dagh, on the slopes of which Siiverek is 
situated. Moreover, I have subsequently found that the specimens in the Vienna and Paris collections 
bear the inscription “/. Afasia sp. nov. Stapf.” No description of the plant was published by 
Dr Stapf when he gave the name in 1888, but Sintenis' specimens and Foster's notes supplied 
the material for the account given in the Gard. Chron. 1910, 1. pp. 99 and 147. In this case, also, 
Foster probably obtained the plants that flowered with him from Sintenis through Max Leichtlin. 
V. The Chinese Group. 
This is a somewhat arbitrary group of four Chinese and Japanese plants. They are very 
imperfectly known, and until they are all brought into cultivation and we become better acquainted 
with their characteristics, it seems more convenient to group them together on the basis of their 
geographical distribution rather than to assign them to other groups to which they may ultimately 
prove not to be nearly allied. 
1. Rhizome resembling that of /. ensata or I. spuria -, stems produced in pairs from I. Grtjsi (p. 47). 
the centre of a tuft of leaves ; pedicels long, tube and ovary short. 
2. Rhizome resembling that of I. ruthcnica ; leaves narrow, grassy, pedicel short ; tube I. Rossii (p. 48). 
four or six times as long as the ovary. 
3. Rhizome very slender and wiry; pedicel short; tube about twice as long as the I. minuta (p. 48). 
ovary. 
4. Rhizome very slender and wiry, similar to that of I. minuta-, pedicel long; tube I. Hcnryi (p. 49). 
short, equal to the ovary. 
1 This is probably only the case with freshly imported plants, which gradually lose their vigour and become flowerless except 
in very favourable conditions. 
