122 
The Oncocyclus Section 
+ /. ATROPURPUREA 
Baker in Gard. Chron. 1889, I. 330. 
•Gartenflora, XL. t. 1361 (1891), t. 1394 A (1893). 
•Bull. Soc. Tosc. Ort. 1891, p. 144, t. 5, 1893, t 7. 
Var. atrofusca, # Baker in Bot. Mag. t. 7379 (1894), non Gard. Chron. 1893, i. p. 384. 
Synonym. 
?/. Eggen, Hort. 
DISTRIBUTION. Syria, probably East of the Jordan. 
Diagnosis. 
/. atropurpurea Oncocyclus; /. Bamutnae affinis sed colore atropurpureo, macula intense lutea 
differt. 
Description. 
Rootstock, a compact rhizome. 
Leaves , linear, falcate, slightly glaucous, about 6 in. long at flowering time. 
Stem, one-headed, about 6 — 8 in. in height, bearing about the centre a clasping leaf-like bract. 
Spathe valves, lanceolate, green, 3 — 4 in. long, rising far above the top of the tube, 1 -flowered. 
Pedicel, none. 
Ovary, light green, rounded trigonal, | — 1 in. long. 
Tube, i£ in. long, green with dark stripes in line with the standards. 
Falls. There is no constriction between the broad oblong haft and the slightly more oval blade, 
but the haft is suddenly constricted at its attachment to the tube. 
In colour the haft is veined with thick red purple veins which merge into the dark purple ground 
colour, while the blade is almost black with a rectangular greenish yellow signal patch, in front of which 
there is a semicircular velvety quite black patch. The diffuse beard consists of thick, scattered yellowish 
hairs tipped with purplish black. 2 in. by i£ in. 
Standards. Orbicular, with canaliculate unbearded haft, of a dark reddish purple with inconspicuous 
black veins, 3 in. by 2 in., but bearing no hairs. 
Styles, much arched laterally, keeled, mottled with dark reddish brown. 
Crests, quadrate, dark purple, edges finely serrate. 
Stigma, mottled with reddish brown, conspicuously notched. 
Filaments, yellow. 
Anthers, twice as long as the filaments, white. 
Pollen, 
Capsule, 
Seeds, 
Observations. 
It will be convenient to discuss several other names together with that of /. atropurpurea, for 
there has arisen an unfortunate confusion in the nomenclature. 
If the view is accepted, which was put forward in the introduction to this section (p. 107), that 
several of these supposed species are really only differently coloured local races of the same species, it 
will be easy to understand how confusion may have arisen, seeing that colour is the only distinguishing 
feature and that this fades nearly entirely away after a few months or years in a herbarium. 
The question is further complicated by the fact that these plants were most of them introduced 
from Palestine and Syria by Messrs Dammann of Naples, whose assistants seem to have been in the 
habit of setting up for themselves and then importing plants from the same neighbourhoods. In this 
way confusions arose, which were unwittingly perpetuated by the Kew authorities to whom specimens 
were sent for determination and to be named. (The evidence is in Herb. Kew.) 
As far as I have been able to unravel the tangle, the truth of the matter seems to be as follows. 
In 1889 there were sent to Kew specimens of an Iris which Messrs Dammann had obtained from 
Syria in 1888. These were named by Baker /. atropurpurea (K) in Gard. Chron. 1889, 1. p. 330. 
See also *Gartenflora, 1891, t. 1361. This Iris, which has somewhat small and narrow and often falcate 
leaves, is distinguished by its undotted flowers of a uniform black colour with a beard of dark purple- 
black hairs, between which the yellow ground is apparent. 
In 1893 Messrs Herb and Wulle of Naples sent to Kew plants, which Baker described as /. atro- 
fusca in Gard. Chron. 1893, L P- 384. 
In the same year the same firm supplied to Gartenflora and to the Bull. Soc. Tosc. Ort. a 
double coloured plate containing an /. atrofusca Baker. There is also a photograph of the whole plant 
at p. 487 in that volume of Gartenflora. 
In Bakers original specimens enough colour still fortunately remains to show that the standards 
are coarsely veined and dotted with small purple blotchy spots. This fact and the above-mentioned 
