150 
The Pogoniris Section 
Mt Rhodope, 1906, Adamovic (B) (K) (V). 
Vaden (Macedonia), 1900, Adamovic (K). 
Uskub (Gornje-Voda), 1893, Dorfler (V). 
Kilid-bahar (Chersonese), 1856 (E). 
Asia Minor. Scutari, 187-, Barbey (K). 
Troad ; Thymbra, 1883-4, Sintenis (E) (B) (K) (BM). 
Dorastri Tepe, 1879, Virchow (B). 
Koum-Kale, 1856 (E). 
Batak, 1856 (E). 
Smyrna, 1894, 1895, Whittall (K). 
Anatolia; Kutschuk Ichamlidjeh, 1864, du Parquet (BM). 
Phrygia; Eski-shehir, 1879, Danford (K). 
Diagnosis. 
I. me l lit a Pogoniris ; /. pumilae affinis sed spathae rigidae, diversae, acute carinatae nonnun uam 
purpureo suffusae, plerumque pallide virides, etiam in planta fructifera herbaceae remanentes; eaulis nunc 
brevissimus, nunc 3 — 5 pollicaris. 
Description. 
Rootstock, a compact rhizome with crowded tufts of leaves. 
Leaves, thin, ensiform, more or less fulcate and occasionally tinged with red at the edge. \ c ; n 
b y i — h ,n - 
Stem, 1 -headed, very short or as much as four or five inches in length. 
Spathes, quite green, sharply keeled, closely resembling the leaves, remaining green long after the 
flowers have faded, sometimes flushed with red along the edge, acuminate, slightly ventricose, divergent 
and exposing the tube. 1 — 3-flowered, 2 — 3 in. long. 
Pedicel, very short. 
Ovary, cylindrical with six lines at equal intervals. 
Tube, 1 ^ — 2 or more inches long, greenish mottled with purple. 
Falls, shorter and narrower than the standards, obovate cuneate, with the blade much reflexed and 
often pressed against the tube. The colouring is peculiar, the haft being veined with red brown on a 
grey white ground. On the blade the ground is a pale smoky brown veined with fine deep veins. 
About the end of the beard the texture is more velvety and the colour becomes a warm red purple 
shot with electric blue. The beard is conspicuous, composed of relatively long, thickset hairs, white at 
the base and blue above. 
Standards, obovate with a short channelled haft, which on its inner surface usually bears a few 
straggling hairs. The standards are both longer and broader than the falls and deeper in colour, but 
with similar fine veins. At the base the veins give place to small dots and blotches. 
Styles, narrow, grey white, with a purple keel. 
Crests, small, triangular, with a serrate outer edge. 
Stigma, oblong, entire. 
Filaments, white, tinged with purple. 
Anthers, white, tinged with blue. 
Pollen, bluish white. 
Capsule , trigonal, tapering slightly to a pointed upper end, with thin walls, 2 — 2^ in. long. 
Seeds, almost spherical, deep red brown, wrinkled. 
Observations. 
I. melhta seems to stand in much the same relation to I. Reichenbachii as I. pumila to /. chamaeiris. 
The Balkan plants are distinguished by their sharply keeled spathes and by the clear thin texture of 
the segments of the flowers. From /. Reichenbachii I. mellita is separated by the long narrow spathes 
and by the relatively longer perianth tube. The development of a short stem, which is rare in examples 
of /. pumila , is fairly common in I. mellita, where it may vary from less than half an inch to as much 
as four or five inches. This was pointed out by Janka in his original description* and it is clearly seen 
when a number of specimens are compared together. Thus specimens from the neighbourhood of 
Philippopolis have stems some less than one inch and some more than four inches in length, while 
some of the Troad specimens have stems of barely £ in. 
When the stem is so short that it is entirely clothed by the bases of the leaves, the whole plant 
closely resembles /. pumila except that it has that look of refinement which is characteristic of the 
Balkan as opposed to the Austrian and French dwarf Irises. Botanically, the difference lies in the 
spathes. In /. pumila these closely wrap the tube and the inner valve at least is membranous and 
at the tip even scarious. In I. mellita, on the other hand, the spathe valves are divergent, exposing 
the tube, and remain green long after the flowers have faded. Moreover, they are very acutely keeled 
and closely resemble the leaves that clasp the stem. In fact the leaves only differ from the spathes 
in that the two surfaces are joined together along both edges for a short distance below the apex. 
l.c. Caulis semper manifestus, nunc brevissimus vix pollicaris, nunc 3 — 5 pollicaris. 
