90 
The Apogon Section 
Distribution. This Iris is only found near the sea-coast of California, in the region of the liberal winter-rains 
and heavy summer sea-fogs. It is plentiful in the meadows about San Francisco Bay and extends as f ar 
south as Monterey. 
California, 1833, Douglas (BM) (K) (V). 
18 — , Beechey (K). 
San Francisco Bay, 1848, Hartweg (K) (BM). 
1868, Kellogg and Harford (BM). 
Santa Cruz, 1879, Isaman (K). 
San Mateo Co., 1902, Baker (K) (V). 
Belmont, San Mateo Co., 1900, Elmer (V). 
Monterey, 1861, Guirado (K). 
Diagnosis. 
/. longipetala Apogon ; folia linearia vel anguste ensiformia, caulem paullo superantia ; caulis 
monocephalus, vel nonnunquam ramo singulo instructus ; spathae multiflorae ; pedicelli primo inter se 
inaequales, denique subaequales, spatharum valvas longe superantes ; segmenta interiora exterioribus 
aequilonga, obtusa, valde emarginata. 
Description. 
Rootstock , a short creeping rhizome, with brown sheaths at the base of the leaves. 
Leaves , firm, narrow ensiform, about 18 — 24 in. long by % — £ wide, varying in individual plants 
and not dying down in winter, the new leaves appearing before the old wither, of a dark grey green 
with glaucous sheen. 
Stem, 2 ft. high, sometimes bearing two or three reduced leaves, and sometimes one or two lateral 
heads of flowers besides the terminal cluster. 
Spathe valves, 3 — 4 in. long, the outer valves being green, lanceolate, 3 — 6-flowered. The outer- 
most valve is often and indeed usually set 2 — 3 in. below the next. 
Pedicels, 1 — 3 in. long, those of the various flowers being of different lengths at flowering time, 
but becoming equal later. 
Ovary, oblong, trigonal, £ — 1 in. long, with a somewhat rough uneven surface, and a ridge down 
each side. 
Tube, about £ in., funnel-shaped, green, faintly striped with purple in the line of the standards. 
Falls , obovate unguiculate, spreading and drooping rather than reflexing. The central ridge or 
keel is flanked with yellow, and finely dotted with purple. There are also a number of small deep 
purple dots about the end of this ridge on the blade, which is white, finely and conspicuously veined 
with violet, as is also the haft, 2 \ — 3 in. by i£ in. Nuttall’s statement (l.c.) that the falls are yellow 
is probably due to the fact that he was describing a dried specimen. 
Standards, somewhat divergent, blunt, broadly emarginate, oblong-unguiculate, 2\ — 3 in. by £ in., 
white, with violet veins more diffuse, and somewhat paler than those on the falls. 
Styles, i| in. long, narrow at the base, becoming wider above, pale violet. 
Crests, almost quadrate, with irregularly indented edge. 
Stigma , obscurely bilobed. 
Filaments, equal to anthers, white mottled with pale violet. 
Anthers, purple. 
Pollen, creamy white. 
Capsule, £ in. by — 2, tapering at either end, with six ribs set at equal distances. The cross- 
section is almost circular. 
Seeds, large, almost globular, dark brown, with very slightly wrinkled skins. 
Observations. See the introduction to the group. 
t + /. MJSSO UJtlENSIS 1 
Nuttall in Journ. Acad. Philad. VII. i. p. 58 (1834). 
[Nuttall’s type (BM) is from “the sources of the Missouri.”] 
•Bot. Mag. t. 6579 (1881). 
Synonyms. 
I. tolmeiana, Herbert in Hooker and Arn. Bot. Voy. Beech, p. 396 (1841). 
[Herbert’s type still exists (BM).] 
I. longipetala montana, Baker, Hdk. Irid. p. 10 (1892). 
•Lynch, Book of Iris, p. 74 (1904). 
Distribution. The Great Basin between the Rocky Mountains, the Cascade Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. 
It is noticeable that where I. missouriensis and I. montana are found in close proximity, e.g. near Flagstaff 
and San Francisco Mountain, it is always in a neighbourhood where geological formations run one into the 
other and usually on a watershed which separates the two species. 
1 I am indebted for seeds of this Iris to Mr Carl Purdy of Ukiah, Cal. 
