156 
The Pogoniris Section 
is to be found perhaps in the seeds. Each Apogon Iris, with scarcely an exception, can be distinguished 
by its seeds alone, but among the Pogoniris there are only three or four types of seeds, each possessed 
by several species. 
In addition, it is remarkable that very few examples of mature capsules of seed of Pogoniris are 
found in herbarium collections. Of Apogon species specimens in the fruiting stage are much more 
common and I believe that this is due to the fact that most Apogons are so constructed that self-fertilisation 
is almost inevitable (see also p. 13), while the Pogoniris type needs the intervention of some external 
agency. 
The consequence of this absence of the capsules is that the identification of herbarium specimens 
of Pogoniris is often difficult and sometimes impossible. Without herbarium specimens it is impossible 
to define the limits of the distribution of any species, if the same plan is followed here that has been 
adopted in dealing with the other sections'. If therefore the account of some of the following species 
seems lamentably incomplete, my only plea is the lack of material on which to base any more adequate 
statement 
Several specific names, e.g. neglecta, flavescens, sambucina, etc., are only retained here because they 
are in common use and serve to indicate certain types of garden hybrids. Their retention must not be 
taken as an admission of their claims to specific rank. 
For the very reason that these Irises are in general tenacious of life and easily cultivated, they 
often suffer from neglect or are relegated to positions where they may linger on but in which they 
obtain neither enough nourishment nor enough sun to enable them to flower. 
Two things they must have to do well, sun and a well-drained soil. If the former fails to reach 
the rhizomes, growth may be luxuriant though the flowers will be few, while in soil in which the water 
level is near the surface, the root fibres will be found to rot off, instead of spreading in the soil. 
On the whole, I am inclined to think that all Pogoniris do really best in heavy soil, always provided 
that the drainage is good. In light soils, the difficulty is to feed the plants without introducing disease, 
which is apt to be conveyed by the use of farmyard manure. If left to themselves, in the course of 
a few years they will have exhausted the soil within reach of their root fibres and will then dwindle, 
unless they are fed in spring by top dressings of leafsoil and a complete artificial manure. In richer, 
heavier soil, on the other hand, they can remain longer in the same position without exhausting the 
available food supply, though even here light dressings of artificial manure tends to improve the plants. 
To obtain the requisite drainage, heavy soil should be thrown up into mounds or ridges or at any rate 
arranged in sloping beds so that most of the moisture runs off before it has time to sink into the 
ground. 
Transplantation should always be carried out as soon after flowering as possible and the plants 
will then become so well established in their new quarters before the winter that they are able to 
flower perfectly in the following year. The rhizomes must not be deeply covered but kept level with 
the surface of the ground and the leaves should never be cut off until they come away easily with the 
slightest pull. 
Notes on the diseases to which these plants are liable and on the remedies for them will be found 
at p. 16. 
The species contained in this group may be separated as follows : 
I. Spathes green either wholly or in part at flowering time. 
i. Stem branching at or below the middle. 
ii. Stem branching above the middle. 
(o) Spathes not at all scarious at flowering time. 
(£) Spathes green below, scarious in the upper part ; flowers almost 
sessile on the stem. 
(7) Spathes flushed with purple, scarious in the upper half ; the lateral 
flowers on peduncles of some length. 
I. aphylla (p. 157). 
/. variegata (p. 159). 
I. albicans * (p. 16 1). 
I. germanica (p. 162). 
I I . Spathes wholly scarious at flowering time. 
i. Spathes silvery-white ; seeds compressed. I. pallida (p. 167). 
ii. Spathes pale brown scarious ; seed globular. I. Cengialti (p. 168). 
III. The following plants are probably of hybrid origin. The spathes are more or less scarious 
and the inflorescence either resembles that of /. germanica (see Fig. 21, p. 163) or is slightly more 
complicated. 
(1) Standards white, falls blue. I. amoena (p. 169). 
(2) Flowers wholly yellow ; leaves short and of a very yellow green when young. I. Jlavcscens (p. 169). 
(3) A dwarf germanica with almost uniform dark red-purple flowers. /. Kochii (? I. aphylla x 
(Plate XXXVI.) 1 '. germanica) (p. 170). 
1 Thoughout the book, the statements in local floras are neglected and the account of the distribution of each species is 
based only on specimens seen and recorded. (See also p. 1.) 
* Although this plant probably comes from Arabia (see p. 155), yet it seems to have more affinity with European than with 
Asiatic species. 
