The Pogoniris Section 181 
(see Fig. 23). The hairs of the beard are yellow for their whole length and not bluish-white tipped 
with yellow as in /. Alberti. The filaments are not infrequently mauve. 
t + /. Alberti » 
(Plate XXXVIII) 
E. Regel in Act. Hort. Petrop. v. p. 260 (1877). 
•Gartenflora XXIX. p. 33, L 999 (1880). 
Maxim, in B. A. P. xxvi. p. 535 (1880). 
•Baker in Bot. Mag. t 7020 (1888). 
Hdk. Irid. p. 26 (1892). 
Distribution. The mountains of Turkestan near Wernoje (Vemi) in the valley of the Almatinka. 
Wemoje, 1877, Fetissow (K). 
Diagnosis. 
I. Alberti Pogoniris ; I. imbricatae similis sed folia sesquiplicia, caul is foliis longior, ramis 
longioribus; segmenta exteriora venis subito truncatis ornata; spathae membranaceae, inflatae, rotundatae. 
Description. 
Rootstock , a stout, compact, rhizome. 
Leaves, broad, erect, somewhat glaucous, somewhat bluntly pointed, finally 18 — 24 in. by i£ — 2 in., 
tinged with purple at the base in purple-flowered plants. 
Stem, bears a terminal head of three flowers, of which the central bud is the last to open, 
and about three lateral heads each bearing 1 — 3 flowers. The peduncles are set in bract-like leaves. 
Spathe valves, green, ventricose, not keeled, only slightly scarious at flowering time at the tip or 
along the margin. 
Pedicel, very short. 
Ovary, short, cylindrical, bright green. 
Tube, about £ in. long, greenish, becoming wider above. 
Falls , obovate cuneate, the haft veined with thick, diffuse, reddish-brown veins, which extend on to 
the blade and there end abruptly at the end of the beard in a straight line across the width of 
the blade. The colour of the latter is either purple or pale yellow. The beard is of whitish hairs 
tipped with yellow and often ends in an obscure crest. 
Standards, almost orbicular, the blade narrowing abruptly to a canaliculate haft, which is veined 
with reddish-brown. The colour is the same as that of the falls. 
Styles, 1 — 1£ in. long. 
Crests, short, subquadrate, overlapping, reflexed, with a serrated upper edge. 
Stigma, large, oblong. 
Filaments, longer than the anthers, white. 
Anthers, short and comparatively broad. 
Pollen, white. 
Capsule , short, broad, globose, showing hardly any trace of ribs or grooves, with very thick walls. 
Seeds, brown, semicircular, wedge-shaped, resembling those of I. pallida. 
Observations. 
This species was placed by Baker among his group of Pseudevansias. The rudimentary crest, 
on which he based this classification, is in many individuals so slightly marked, even if present 
at all, and the plant is in other respects so different from the other members of that group that 
it would seem wiser to keep it among the Pogoniris. I feel the more justified in adopting this plan 
because among numbers of seedling Pogoniris I have found many with a distinct crest beyond the 
tip of the beard. The amount of crest varies in different flowers on the same plant and even on the 
different falls of the same flower. In some cases I have noticed a good half inch of crest beyond 
the extremity of the beard, and it is not unusual for the hairs of the latter to be inserted on a distinctly 
raised ridge. , . , . 
I. Alberti is a plant of a curious habit of growth, but even here it resembles the larger 
members of the Pogoniris group rather than the Pseudoregelias, such as I. kumaonensis or 
I. Hookeriatia. . „ 
The original type of this Iris was purple-flowered, but I have obtained more than one yellow- 
flowered plant in raising the species from seeds. The latter are semicircular and compressed like 
those of /. pallida and quite different from the Pseudoregelia type. 
I. Alberti does best in a warm position, where it is fairly dry in winter. Foster used to give 
it the same treatment as the Oncocyclus group. This is however not necessary, for I still grow 
a plant of this Iris, which he gave me and which has not received any special treatment. 
1 Named after Dr Albert Regel, by whom it was discovered in the mountains of Turkestan. 
