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The Juno Section 
expands into two almost colourless triangular wings or flanges, which curve upwards and embrace the 
style. The blade is of a rounded oblong shape, marked with the conspicuous orange ridge and a dark 
blotch of black or brown purple, 2 — 2^ in. long by ^ in. broad, of a pale greenish blue. 
Standards , about J in. in length, horizontal or depressed with a canaliculate haft and three more 
or less distinct teeth, that in the centre being much the longest, white shaded with pale blue. 
Styles, about an inch long, pale blue green. 
Crests , large, almost quadrate with a coarsely toothed outer edge. 
Stigma, oblong, entire, with a finely crenate edge. 
Filaments, white, twice as long as the anthers. 
Anthers, white. 
Pollen, white, spherical, each grain bearing about 20 hexagonal bosses. 
Capsule, 1^ — 2 in. long, tapering at either end, trigonal with loose, bulging, papery walls. 
Seeds, oval rather than spherical and slightly pointed at either end, not compressed. 
Observations. 
This beautiful species has been in cultivation in England for three centuries, for it was accurately 
described by Parkinson in 1629 (Paradisus, p. 172) as having flowers of a ‘‘pale blue russetish colour." 
His experience of its behaviour in cultivation tallies with its reputation in these days: “This (Iris), as 
it is very rare, so it seldome beareth flowers with us.” 
Linnaeus’ description of /. persica may be traced back to Parkinson though Royen’s Florae 
Leydensis Prodromus, p. 18, and Tournefort’s Institutiones Rei Herbariae, p. 363, and there is therefore 
no doubt that the plant now known as I. persica is the same that Parkinson described. In 1787 a good 
drawing of this Iris was published as the first plate in the Botanical Magazine. 
/. persica is not easy to cultivate in England although the reason for this may be that it is so 
difficult to obtain strong bulbs with which to make a beginning. If this could be done and seedlings 
raised, it might be possible to get better and more robust specimens. Unfortunately, the plant seems 
to fail in sandy soils, and from the stiff soils, in which it flourishes, it is almost impossible to lift the 
bulbs with their store roots intact. If these are broken off the bulb will be greatly weakened, and even 
if it succeeds in producing a small flower it will almost certainly fail to ripen seeds, and has no chance 
of forming a sound bulb for the following year. Some help may perhaps be given by pinching out the 
bud as soon as it appears, and so throwing the energies of the plant into the building up of the new 
bulb. It is possible, however, that even in their native homes these bulbs grow from seeds to flowering 
size and then perish, or at any rate leave behind them such small offsets that several years must elapse 
before they reach flowering size. Evidence for this may perhaps be found in the marked difference in 
the leaves of flowering and non-flowering plants. Bulbs that are going to flower send up blunt, broad, 
short leaves, while non-flowering bulbs have longer, narrower and much more pointed leaves. 
In recent years a better knowledge of Asia Minor and Persia has shown that there are many Irises 
growing in various localities which some botanists have taken to be mere colour forms of /. persica , 
while others have given them specific names. Many of them have been introduced into our gardens 
by the enterprise of Herr Siehe of Mersina. In 1905 the latter published in the Allgemeine Botanische 
Zeitschrift a paper on these Irises, and it is on the details there given, checked by observations of 
living plants, which I have obtained from Herr Siehe, that the various plants are separated and 
described. 
In the present state of our knowledge we hardly know what value should be attached to the 
presence or absence of the horny white edge to the leaves as a specific character. When the flowers 
appear, it is in some cases difficult to distinguish the leaves by this character, which however becomes 
considerably more marked before the foliage withers away. 
The following is an account of the varieties or sub-species to which names have been given. 
(1) +Var. Bolleana. 
Synonym. 
I. Bolleana, Siehe in Gard. Chron. 1901, I. p. 313. 
in ABZ. 1905, p. 1 1 5. 
Lynch, Bk. of Ir. p. 185 (1904). 
DISTRIBUTION. This Iris has been found by Siehe growing on the foothills of the Cilician Taurus at an eleva- 
tion of 600 to 2200 ft. 
Description. 
Plants which I have received from Herr Siehe had pale yellow flowers, not veined, but usually with 
a purple or violet patch on the blade of the falls. The lateral wings on the haft of the falls tend to 
extend almost horizontally and do not closely clasp the styles. Mature leaves have no conspicuous 
white edge. 
Observations. 
This variety was named in honour of the German botanist, Dr Bolle of Berlin. 
