126 
The Regelia Section 
Falls. The obovate blade is not separated by any constriction from the broad haft, which is a 
yellowish-white with conspicuous diffuse orange-brown veins. The blade is of a fine blue purple with 
a waved edge suffused with bronze. The beard is bright yellow behind and sometimes tipped with 
brown in front, 2^ — 3 in. by 1 — in. 
Standards , obovate unguiculate, blue purple with fine darker veins in the median parts, bronzy brown 
at the edge from the confluence of brown veins. On the inner side there is a distinct linear beard for 
more than ^ of the whole length, of yellowish hairs tipped with brown or orange. 2^ in. by 1^ in. 
Styles, blue purple. 
Crests, narrow triangular, bronze brown, with distinct veins. 
Stigma , entire, semicircular, prominent. 
Filaments , short. 
Anthers , very large and at least twice as long as the filament. 
Pollen, cream-coloured or slightly tinged with blue. 
Capsule, with thin walls, 3 in. long, tapering at either end, sharply trigonal, dehiscing below the 
beaked apex. 
Seeds, light brown, with conspicuous white aril. 
Observations. 
The nomenclature and synonymy of this Iris are somewhat confusing, partly owing to the fact that 
the species was first described from dried specimens alone and partly to the undoubted existence of 
several forms in the wild state. 
The facts seem to be as follows. In 1869 Mme O. Fedtschenko discovered an Iris in the Zarefshan 
(Sarafschan) valley in the mountains of Turkestan which Maximowicz described as /. stolonifera in 1880 
(v. supra). About 1883 Dr Regel received from Bokhara an Iris which he named I. Leichtlini, over- 
looking apparently the existence of Maximowicz’s I. stolonifera, to which he makes no allusion. In 1884 
Foster received some plants through Max Leichtlin from General Korolkow, which proved to be very 
wide-spreading in their growth. He therefore named them I. vaga. In the next year, 1885, he received 
another specimen from Gen. Korolkow, which, owing to its closer growth, he labelled /. vaga var. compacta 
(MS). In the Gardeners' Chronicle for 1888 (ii. p. 36), however, he acknowledged that his /. vaga was 
"only a very distinct variety of /. Leichtlini." 
In 1908 seeds and rhizomes were collected in the original locality in Zarefshan by Goldbeck and 
Fedotoff (see Fedtsch. l.c. p. 75, n. 3). These flowered in Mme Fedtschenko's garden, near Moscow, 
in 1909, and she was able to compare them with specimens of /. vaga, which she had received from 
Foster, and as to the identity of which there was therefore no doubt. She came to the conclusion that 
/. vaga was merely a synonym of /. stolonifera. 
But even if all the forms must be looked upon as belonging to the same species, it is useless to 
deny that the plant is variable in the growth of the rhizome, in the presence or absence of purple 
colouration at the base of the leaves, and in the colour of the flowers. These are always blue, edged 
or shot with brown, but the shade of colour may be either pale or dark, the veins may be heavy or 
faint, and, above all, the beard may be of bright yellow or bright blue or of an intermediate mixture. 
In my own garden I have observed that the same plants, which in one year had yellow beards, in the 
next had blue, and in another had beards of a dingy colour resulting from the juxtaposition of bluish 
and yellowish hairs. Max Leichtlin, to whom I appealed to know the colour of the beard of /. Leichtlini, 
replied that it was "of a nondescript colour,” and contained yellow, white, and blue hairs. No explanation 
of this change has been put forward. 
But even if this change in the colour of the beard points to the unreliability of this character, it 
may be useful to record that Maximowicz’s I. stolonifera and Regel’s /. Leichtlini had yellow beards, 
while Foster records (MS.) that the beards both on the falls and on the standards of his /. vaga consisted 
of hairs that were blue or bluish white above and white tipped yellow at the base. The stem was nearly 
two feet high. This form I still have in cultivation and I cannot separate it specifically from typical 
/. stolonifera. 
For cultivation, see the introduction to the section (p. 123). 
1 1 . DARWASICA 
Regel in Act. Hort. Petrop. vm. p. 679 (1884). 
Synonyms. 
1 . Suwarowi', Regel in Act. Hort. Petrop. IX. p. 619 (1886). 
Gartenflora, XXXV. p. 397 (1886). 
•Bot. Mag. t. 7029 (1888). 
/. lincata, ’Foster, MS. ex Regel, Gartenflora, XXXVI. p. 201, t. 1244, nos. 1 — 7 (1887). 
Foster in Gard. Chron. 1888, II. p. 36. 
1 Named after Suwarow, the Inspector of the Medical Service in Turkestan. Regel in Gartenflora, 1886, p. 397. 
