51 
The Apogon Section 
Sicily. Sicily, 18— , Parlatore (K). 
Palermo, 18 — , Tineo (V), 
I S — , Philippi (B). 
Le Madonie, 18 — , Tineo (V). 
Servia. Belgrade, 1865, Ren£ du Parquet (BM). 
North Africa. Algiers (Kouba), 1879, Gandoger (BM). 
Algiers, 1837, Bov£ (K) (B). 
1850, Jamin (K). 
18 — , Charpentier (V). 
Tetuan (Beni Hosmar), 18—, Webb (B). 
Diagnosis. 
I. foetidissima Apogon ; folia foetida, nitida, hieme viridia ; semina flammea etiam in capsula 
dehiscente placenta adhaerent. 
Description. 
Rootstock, a somewhat slender, slow-growing rhizome. 
Leaves , thick, evergreen of a somewhat dark shade, slightly glaucous at the base, ensiform, 
12 — 18 in. long, | — 1 in. broad. 
Stem, about 2 ft. long, bearing 2 or 3 reduced clasping leaves and 2 or 3 heads of flowers. 
Spat/ie, 2 — 3 flowered ; valves green, rigid, firm, lanceolate, about 3 in. long. 
Pedicels, unequal in length, 1 — 3 in. long. 
Ovary, trigonal with a groove at each angle and on each face, tapering slightly at either end. 
Tube, about half an inch, rounded trigonal, separated by a constriction from the ovary. 
Falls. The haft becomes gradually wider and is separated by a slight constriction from the obovate 
or nearly orbicular blade, which is slightly emarginate. The veining is always conspicuous in the purple- 
flowered form. The colour is either a pale grey-purple with deeper purple veins or a pale straw- 
yellow with greenish veins. — 2 in. long by f in. broad. 
Standards. The blade is emarginate and either oblanceolate or narrowly obovate, with a short 
canaliculate haft. 
Styles, about an inch in length, growing suddenly wider in the upper part. 
Crests , small, deltoid. 
Stigma, bifid, with two pointed teeth. 
Filaments, short. 
Anthers, long, usually reaching the stigma or even projecting beyond it. 
Pollen, cream. 
Capsule, rounded trigonal, more or less distinctly six ribbed narrowing to a beaked point at the 
upper end, 1^ — 2 in. long. 
Seeds, globular, scarlet, remaining firmly attached after the capsule has dehisced. 
Observations. 
This Iris, which derives its name from the disagreeable smell emitted by the bruised leaves, is 
very widely distributed and is one of our two native English Irises. The most common form bears 
flowers of a dull brownish purple but even in England a yellow form is found growing wild in 
Dorsetshire not far from Swanage and in the Isle of Wight. In this case the colour is a pale yellow 
tinged and veined with green. Another form is said to be finely veined with reddish brown on a 
dirty yellow ground. This latter may be that which is represented in Reich. Ic. FI. Germ. t. cccxlvii. 
fig- 775 . but I have never seen any plant that had flowers in the least resembling this plate. The 
yellow-flowered form is also found in Sicily (cf. Tineo’s specimen (V) from Le Madonie). 
The flowers of this Iris are very inconspicuous except in the somewhat rare yellow-flowered 
forms and it is curious that no attempt to hybridise this species in order to produce an ornamental 
plant with evergreen leaves has ever been successful. Foster made many attempts but always with- 
out result. 
The most conspicuous feature of this Iris, after its evergreen leaves, is formed by the open 
capsules displaying their orange-scarlet seeds throughout the winter. It is, as far as I know, the 
only Iris whose seeds remain attached to the placenta long after the capsules have burst. The seeds 
also are totally unlike those of any other species, and form a very ornamental winter decoration. 
A form with variegated leaves has long been known in gardens. It should be noticed that the 
pale yellow part of each leaf is towards the centre of the tuft, thus showing that it is really the 
outer edge of the leaf" that is unreached by the green pigment. 
The cultivation of this Iris presents no difficulty. It seems to have little preference in the 
matter of soil succeeding equally well in a limestone and in a limeless soil. It will grow in the 
shade of trees but does not flower freely unless it is in such a position that it gets a fair amount 
of sun. Seedlings grow very slowly and the whole plant is perhaps the most slow of increase of 
any Iris. 
1 Iris leaves are really closely folded down the centre, having their outer edges joined up except towards the base. The 
outer edges always turn towards the centre of the tuft of leaves. 
7—2 
