The Pogoniris Section 
163 
Diagnosis. 
/. germanica Pogoniris; caulis sesquipedalis vel etiam longior, ramosus (v. Fig. 21, p. 163); spat hat 
plerumque purpureo suffusae, basi tantum herbaceae, apice scariosae ; segmenta interiora plerumque 
barbata. 
Description. 
Rootstock , a stout rhizome, much branched in good soil but often growing straight ahead unbranched 
when starved, for the lateral buds are then unable to develop. 
Leaves , ensiform, glaucous, 1 — 1^ ft. by 1 — in. when full grown and attaining about half this 
size before the winter. 
Stem, about 2 ft. long, usually bearing four (but sometimes five) flowers. The typical inflorescence 
consists of a terminal head of two flowers and one short, and one longer, lateral 
branch, each producing a single flower. A second short lateral branch sometimes 
occurs, producing the fifth flower (cf. Fig. 21). 
Spathes, 1^ — 2 in. long, scarious in the upper half and more or less flushed 
with purple. 
Pedicel , very short. 
Ovary, trigonal, not much shorter than the tube. 
Tube, about | — 1 in. long. 
Falls. The obovate blade narrows gradually to the wedge-shaped haft, which 
bears thick veins on a pale ground. The beard consists of white hairs tipped with 
yellow in front and tends to become almost wholly yellow at the base. 
Standards, obovate with a short, channelled haft, which often bears a few 
straggling whitish hairs. 
Styles, broad, keeled, pale at the edges and usually more deeply coloured along 
the centre. 
Crests, triangular, divergent. 
Stigma, entire. 
Filaments , white, sometimes tinged with pale mauve. 
Anthers, cream. 
Pollen, white. 
Capsule, trigonal, tapering to point above, where it dehisces, thick walled, 
— 2 in. long. 
Seeds, pyriform or oval in outline, not compressed, dark red brown, wrinkled. 
Varieties of I. germanica. 
The following is a list of some of the best known forms of /. germanica. 
tVar. vulgaris. This name is suggested instead of “typica” because it is 
impossible to say which of the many forms was that described by Linnaeus The 
commonest form in England has standards of a distinctly blue purple and falls of 
a slightly redder shade. The beard is almost white in front, though the yellow ttps to the hams become 
conspicuous behind. 
t Var. nepalensis (also called Purple King in gardens). 
Synonyms. 
/. nepalensis, Wallich ; Khatmandu, Nepal, 1910, Manners Smith (HortD). 
I. germanica var. atropurpurea in gardens. 
The standards and the falls are of a uniform red purple, the colour of the falls being darker and 
almost a black purple. This form is very similar to /. Koch, except that the stems are slightly taller, 
anT that the light ground and veining of the haft of the falls extend further on to the blade The 
leaves aL are distinctly larger than those of /. Kochi, The beard ts blu.sh whtte m front but t.pped 
Thl ng v e aHetyt common in Nepal and a number of plants of it were very kindly sent to me by the 
British Resident at Khatmandu, Col. Manners Smith, V.C. 
• a *fter the town in Northern Mesopotamia from which it was sent 
. & z ” as * - * »*■ ■ *— — - 
~~ . marked l„ di.i.gai.hed '"* “1" ", dT'S Z tSLSZ 
This edge is conspicuous when the leaves J° U " 8 ^ (fmsy^and weak, of a pale reddish purple and 
long and comparatively narrow, the standards b g y Y 
the falls of a deep, black-red purple. 
Fig. ai. Typical inflor- 
escence of I. germani- 
ca-, much reduced. 
21—2 
