159 
The Pogoniris Section 
Chamaeiris latifolia in the Hortus Eystett. vern. viii . i. (1613). The figure there given is undoubtedly 
/ aphylla and not the Portuguese plant, which is depicted at vi. ii. under the name of I. portugalica. 
Since, therefore, Linnaeus' name of /. biflora is based on a confusion between the Portuguese and 
the Central European plants, it seems not unreasonable to reduce it to a synonym partly of his own 
/ aphylla and partly of the /. subbiflora of Brotero. 
/. aphylla is a most variable species, in dealing with which I have not ventured to separate any 
varieties. It is impossible to do this with certainty from the written accounts, for most of the descriptions 
of the synonyms given above omit the differentiae, which separate the plant in question from those 
already known. It is likewise impossible to rely on herbarium specimens, for differences in the foliage, 
in colour, in character of the spathes or in the formation of the ovary are seldom visible in such material 
and seed-vessels are usually entirely absent. 
All that can be done at present is to define /. aphylla as the only known European species of 
Iris with bearded flowers and a stem that branches below the middle, often at the very ground line 
(cf. Fig. 20, p. 158). Its habitat extends from Bohemia in the west to the Caucasus in the east. 
The only satisfactory means of defining and correlating the various forms of this species would 
obviously be to grow side by side and under similar conditions either collected plants or even preferably 
plants raised from seed from known localities. Such a task can only be undertaken with the help of 
botanists familiar with the range of the species and it is to them that I should like to appeal for help 
in the matter. It is not enough to know the appearance of the wild plant, for different conditions of 
soil and environment are capable of producing such marked changes in the plants, that apparent differences 
in nature may be only accidental and disappear when the plants are removed to identical conditions. 
As an instance, we may take the case of the /. furcata of Bieberstein, the Caucasus representative of 
/. aphylla. In the wild state, as Bieberstein 1 noticed and as was shown by withered stems still attached 
to rhizomes sent to me from the Caucasus, the flowers are few in number. In cultivation, however, in 
garden soil, where the struggle for existence is less keen, the inflorescence at once became more 
complex and the flowers more numerous. 
In their synopsis of the Central European Flora Ascherson and Graebner have divided the species 
into the three main headings typica, Fieberi, and hungarica, under which they have attempted to group 
the numerous synonyms. Their typical plant has a hexagonal ovary, while Fieberi and hungarica are 
said to agree in the possession of trigonal ovaries and to differ chiefly in that hungarica has a slightly 
longer tube in comparison with Fieberi. 
The existence of numerous intermediate forms seems to suggest that we should await the results 
of further cultivation and comparison of living material, bearing all the time in mind that it is not 
impossible that we may be dealing with a series of different combinations of Mendelian characters. In 
the latter case two courses are open to us, either to name every variety however slightly it may differ 
from others or to determine the limits of the species and merely define it so as to exclude other species 
and to admit every possible combination of the characters involved. For practical purposes the latter 
course seems preferable. 
A plant that is often found in gardens under the name of /. gracilis , with the characteristic branching 
stem of I. aphylla and flowers of a pale yellowish or greyish white irregularly splashed with purple, is 
presumably an albino form of this species. It can scarcely be called ornamental but it is very free 
flowering and sweetly scented. 
After seeing Dr Stapf’s original specimens of I. benacensis, now at the University of Vienna, I have 
come to the conclusion that the plant, which is fairly common in gardens under that name, is true and 
that it is only one more form of /. aphylla , distinguished by the long, narrow spathes, heavily streaked 
with red purple. The falls are narrow, strap-shaped, of a rich red purple, with a dense beard of white 
hairs slightly tipped with blue in front and with yellow behind. 
The cultivation of /. aphylla is of the easiest. Like other Central European Irises, it loses its 
leaves entirely for some months in winter and is accordingly very hardy. The plants grow rapidly and 
must therefore be shifted or at least be provided with fresh soil at intervals of about three years. 
Transplantation should take place immediately the flowers have faded. 
ft!. VARIEGATA 
Linn. Spec. PI. ed. I. p. 38 (1753). 
•Jacquin, FI. austr. I. t. 5 (1773). 
•Bot. Mag. t. 16 (1787). 
•Red. Lil. V. t. 292 (1809). 
•Rchb. Icon, cccxxxiv. fig. 761 (1847). 
Baker in J. L. S. XVI. p. 145 (1877). 
Hdk. I rid. p. 34 (1892). 
Asch. und Graeb. Syn. ill. p. 48 (1906). 
Cf. Bieb. FI. Taur.-Cauc. in. p. 42 (1819) “variat caule unifloro. 
