54 
The Apogon Section 
The seeds germinate readily and the young plants soon grow to flowering size. Cultivation is 
then not difficult in any light, fairly rich soil, which does not become too dry in summer, though 
well-established plants are able to resist even severe drought. If the plants must be moved, 
transplantation should take place while growth is active, either when it first begins in spring or 
immediately the flowers fade. 
Some forms are undoubtedly much more floriferous than others and it seems to be a rule that 
those forms that produce the most slender leaves are also the least inclined to flower. The form 
figured has comparatively broad leaves and is extremely floriferous, for masses of flowers are produced 
as closely set as the two in the plate. As far as can be seen from herbarium specimens, this may 
well be an example of the Hungarian form. 
/. ruthenica deserves to be far more widely grown that it appears to be and, as it seeds readily, 
there is no reason why colonies of it should not be started in sunny moist nooks in rock gardens 
It might also be employed as an edging, though for this purpose it has the disadvantage that the 
foliage dies entirely away in winter. 
This Iris has sometimes been confused with I. humilis , (MB). Klatt, for instance, in the Berlin 
Herbarium put examples of these two plants together under the name of Neubeckia humilis Alefeld 
(cf. /. humilis Observations, p. 69 for the difference between the two species). 
Further confusion has been more recently caused in England by the fact that one well-known 
nurseryman has distributed this Iris under the name of I. Purdyi. 
There appear to be two main forms of /. ruthenica ; one (that illustrated at Plate XIII) has 
almost rigid leaves and flowers freely, while the other has flimsy, largely prostrate, foliage. It flowers 
only exceedingly rarely — at any rate, in the dry hot soil of Surrey, although in moister and richer 
conditions, it is said to flower well and even to produce a second crop of flowers in the autumn after 
flowering for the first time in April or May. It is unfortunately impossible to distinguish as herbarium 
specimens either these or any other of the forms of /. ruthenica, which have from time to time been 
described. 
VIII. /. unguicularis. 
This is another beardless Iris which seems to need a distinct subdivision for itself. It is 
distinguished from all other known species by the extremely long and slender perianth tube and by 
the curious processes which cover the style branches and give them the appearance of being sprinkled 
with gold dust. (See Observations.) 
It is possible that the variety laziea is worthy of specific rank but, until our knowledge of this 
recent introduction into cultivation is more complete, it seems better to regard it merely as a distinct variety. 
+i/. UNGUICULARIS 
(Plate XIV) 
Poir. Voy. Barb. II. p. 86 (1785). 
*Bol Mag. t. 5773 (1869). 
Baker in J . L. S. XVI. p. 138 (1877). 
Hdk. Irid. p. 3 (1892). 
•Flora and Sylva, 1905, p. 131. 
•Bull. Soc. Tosc. Ort 1898, t. 1. 
•Revue Hort. 1900, p. 300. 
Var. laziea \ 
Synonyms. 
I. laziea , Albow. Prodr. FI. Colch. p. 232 (1895). 
/. cretensis, var. £ lati/olia, Lipsky in Act. Hort. Tiflis, 1899, p. 460. 
Synonyms. 
I. stylosa, *Desf. FI. Atlant. I. p. 40, t 5 (1798). 
Neubeckia stylosa, Alef. BZ. XXI. p. 297 (1863). 
Ioniris stylosa, Klatt, BZ. XXX. p. 502 (1872). 
I. stylosa var. angustifolia , Boiss. Diagn. PI. Or. Ser. I. xiii. p. 15 (1853). 
/. cretensis, Janka in OBZ. XVII. p. 376 (1867) and XVIII. p. 382 (1868). 
Boiss. FI. Or. v. p. 125 (1884). 
Baker in J. L. S. XVL p. 138 (1877). 
Hdk. Irid. p. 3 (1892). 
in *Bot. Mag. t. 6343 (1878). 
I. cretica, Herbert MSS. (K) ex Baker, Hdk. Irid. lc. 
I. humilis, Sieber ex Baker in J. L. S. XVI. p. 138 (18 77). 
Distribution. Algeria, Greece and the Islands of the Archipelago, Asia Minor and Northern Syria. 
Algeria. Blidah, 1865, Paris (B) (BM). 
i860, Lefebvre (V). 
Kouba, 1879, Gandoger (B) (BM). 
Bdne, 18 — , Dukerley (B). 
Caroubiers (Bone), 1865, Tribout (C). 
* The name was taken from Lazistan, the district in which it was found on the shores of the South Eastern corner of the 
Black Sea. 
