166 
The Pogortiris Section 
Caspar Bauhin in his Pinax, pp. 30, 31 (1623) and quoted, as we have seen, in the Hortus Cliffortianus, 
from which Linnaeus apparently took his I. germanica. 
Assuming then that some form of what we now know as /. germanica was either described by 
Linnaeus or was included in his description, we may define the species as having (1) a branched stem 
with usually two lateral branches and four flowers in all (see Fig. 21, p. 163), though another lateral is 
sometimes produced, (2) spathes of which the upper third or half is scarious at flowering time, (3) foliage 
of some 6 or 10 inches in length in winter. The colour of the flowers is very variable and may be of 
a blue, lilac, or red purple, the standards being usually, but not always, of a lighter shade than the falls. 
The seeds are of a long oval or pyriform shape in the few examples that I have obtained and not 
compressed and angular as are those of /. pallida. 
/. germanica is most tenacious of life and it is really very hard to kill the rhizomes. I have even 
found that a rhizome, torn up and left exposed on its back on a path, soon began to grow in this 
position. It will live, and even thrive, on the top of old walls or of a thatched roof, where it is 
often seen in Normandy. As a consequence of its great vitality it has become very widely distributed 
and it is at least uncertain whether it has ever yet been found growing in any position so remote 
from any inhabited area that there seemed no likelihood of its being an escape from cultivation. If 
we may judge by analogy from other species, the habitat of I. germanica must probably have been 
somewhat south of the Alps and not in a mountainous region, where snow lies in winter. 
As there are several colour forms of /. germanica, so also have several of these forms their albino 
counterpart. Of these one has long been known as /. florentina (see p. 164), which is quite a distinct 
species to /. albicans (see p. 161). It was only recently that I obtained from Florence through the 
courtesy of Messrs Barr and Sons the variety of I. germanica with a slender stem, of which I. florentina 
is the exact counterpart. Of the form atropurpurea, I found a white form growing profusely on the 
hill at Beaucaire, on which stands the ruined castle of St Louis. Both the purple and the white forms 
grow there together and apart from colour the only difference was the presence of a few hairs on the 
standards of the white forms. These hairs were, as far as I could see, never present on the purple 
flowers. This difference is however of no great importance, for I have often found cases both in this 
and in other species where on one of the three standards no hairs could be seen, while they were 
obvious on the other two. In /. florentina they are always present and conspicuous. 
Cultivation is of the simplest (see p. 156). 
+ /. PALLIDA 
Lamarck, Encycl. III. p. 294 (1789). 
•Bot. Mag. t. 685 (1803). 
•Reichb. Icon. IX. t CCCCXL. fig. 767 (1847). 
Baker in J. L. S. XVI. p. 146 (1877). 
Hdk. Irid. p. 38 (1892). 
Synonyms. 
/. glauca , Salisb. in Trans. Hort Soc. I. p 302 (1812). 
I. odoratissima, Jacq. Hort. Schoenb. I. p. 5, t. 9 (1797). 
I. pallide coeruUa, Pers. Syn. I. p. 51 (1805). 
DISTRIBUTION. Uncertain; the plant is, however, probably a native of the Tirol. 
Brixen, 18 — , Hofmann (V). 
18 — , H uter (K). 
18—, Lagger (K). 
Bozen, 1875, Hausmann (V). 
1910, Schreiber (HortD). 
Trient, 1882, de Sardagna (B) (V). 
Gargnano, 18 — , Jauhini (V). 
Diagnosis. 
I. pallida Pogoniris ; ab I. germanica foliis pallide glaucis, spat his omnino scariosis, argenteis, 
tubo brevi, seminibus compressis differt. 
Description. 
Rootstock, a stout rhizome. 
Leaves, 12 — 24 in. by i£ in., of a very glaucous grey -green, ensiform. 
Stem, 2 — 3 ft. high, bearing several short lateral branches, each set in a sheathing scarious bract, 
except in the case of the lowest. Here the bract-like leaf is green and sometimes 6 in. long 
(cf. Fig. 22). 
Spathe valves, short, entirely scarious, even before the buds open, silvery-white, 2 — 3 flowered. 
Pedicel, very short. 
Ovary , short, with six grooves at equal intervals. 
Tube, about £ in., equal in length to the ovary. 
