56 The Apogon Section 
Filaments , slightly attached to the column formed by the concretion of the three branches, colourless 
or slightly greenish. 
Anthers, large, white or cream, adherent to the style but not coherent with it. 
Pollen , white. 
Capsule, rounded trigonal with three deep depressions ; the outline of the seeds is distinctly visible 
the capsule does not ripen till late September or October. 
Seeds, few in number, globose or compressed so as to be wedge-shaped, with a finely wrinkled surface 
Fragrance, very marked in a warm atmosphere. 
Observations. 
There seems to be no good reason for separating the Greek and Asia Minor forms of this Iris 
from the Algerian plant as distinct species. When Janka first described his /. cretensis, he was so 
intent on showing that it was not /. humilis — a plant from the Caucasus described by Bieberstein 
under which name Sieber had wrongly identified his specimens from Crete, that he altogether forgot 
to mention /. unguicularis . In any case he would probably have found it difficult to give any differentia 
beyond mere size by which to separate his I. cretensis from /. unguicularis. For indeed there is no 
other real difference, and even Algerian specimens have leaves varying from i — 2 ft. in length and 
from | — | in. in breadth. Attempts have been made to separate them on the ground that the spathes 
of /. cretensis are more scarious than those of /. unguicularis , whereas the truth is that the spathes 
of both are equally membranous and scarcely at all scarious. This is also the case with examples 
from Asia Minor (cf. Foster MS. in Hb. K.), from one of which the Bot. Mag. t. 6343 was prepared 
It is undoubtedly true that the Greek plant is usually smaller than the Algerian but the two 
agree in possessing so many characters that are peculiar to them among Irises that they cannot 
reasonably be separated. They have in common the leathery linear foliage, the long perianth tube 
and above all the curious processes on the style branches that occur nowhere else among Irises. To 
the naked eye this looks like gold dust scattered over the back of the style branches. Under the 
microscope, however, we see transparent spheres poised on the top of equally transparent blunt cones. 
At some point inside the sphere there is a mass of golden dust-like grains and it is to these masses 
that the colour is due. 
As far as can be ascertained from herbarium specimens, the Asia Minor form of this Iris has 
even narrower and more grassy leaves than the Greek (cf. Forbes’ Lycian and Whittall’s Smyrna 
specimens (K)) and I have in cultivation such a form which may well be an Asiatic example. The 
leaves are certainly narrower, more erect and grass-like than the somewhat horizontal fan-like growth 
of some plants which were obtained for me from the island of Cephalonia. On the other hand such 
specimens as Zahn s from Kalamata (B) show that there is considerable variation among the Greek 
forms. It is curious that both the Greek and the Asia Minor plants agree in not coming into flower 
until March or April, whereas the Algerian type flowers during mild weather at any time between 
November and April. This might, however, have been deduced a priori from the difference in climate. 
Attempts have been made to separate the eastern and western forms specifically on differences 
in the shape of the falls and in the amount of division in the style crests. It is, however, difficult 
to attach any great value to these supposed differences, for variation in both these points will be 
found among seedlings obtained by self-fertilising the typical Algerian /. unguicularis. 
So far as my experience of the somewhat shy-flowering Eastern forms goes, the Greek plants 
more closely resemble the Algerian than do those from Asia Minor. The flowers of my plants from 
Cephalonia are practically identical with those of the Algerian type but only one-third as large. On 
the other hand, if a form of uncertain origin, sometimes to be obtained under the name of I. agrostifolia' 
may be taken to agree with herbarium specimens from Asia Minor, the flowers of the latter have more 
gradually expanding and more pointed fall blades. The white ground between the purple veins is 
much more visible on the blade and extends irregularly almost to the circumference, which is often 
edged with white. In such cases, the effect is strikingly delicate and attractive. 
Much more real differences separate the variety lazica from all the other forms of the plant. 
Although it comes from almost the extreme Eastern end of the range of the species, whose leaves 
seem to diminish in width as we trace it from West to East, yet its foliage is broader and more 
distinctly ensiform as opposed to linear — than that of any other form. Another point of real difference 
lies in the green spathe valves and in the much more sharply keeled outer valve. The tube, too, 
is not more than about 4 inches long. Moreover the stem is always produced to the length of 
3 4 inches and it is not uncommon for the stems to be produced in pairs. If the var. lazica only 
differed from typical /. unguicularis in the production of a stem, we could hardly separate them, for 
Bot. Mag. t. 5773 and Tribouts specimen (C) from Caroubiers, Bone, show that other forms occasionally 
produce stems. 
My own plants of I. lazica have not yet flowered and I owe the specimens that I have seen 
to the kindness of Mr C. G. van Tubergen of Haarlem. The colour was a dark purple and the 
veining on the blade was more conspicuous than that usually seen on Algerian plants. In this respect 
* The authority for the name is apparently unknown. 
