197 
The Juno Section 
Distribution. North East Syria and Mesopotamia. 
Aleppo, 1841, Kotschy (K) (V) (B). 
18 — , Aucher-Eloy (K). 
1865, Haussknecht (K) (BM). 
Aleppo (Djebel Muhassan), 1865, Haussknecht (V) (B). 
Hierapolis, 1867, Haussknecht (V) (B). 
Wiranschehir (Antoninopolis), 1867, Haussknecht, no. 907 (V) (B). 
River Dschachdschach (? Djaghdjagh), 1.867, Haussknecht (B). 
Diagnosis. 
/. sindjarensis Juno; /. caucasicae affinis sed foliorum congestiorum margo alba obsoleta nec conspicua. 
Description. 
Rootstock, a large ovate bulb, with about 4 — 6 fleshy roots, persistent through the resting season. 
Leaves, about 12 in number, distichous, spreading, very gradually narrowing to an acute point, 
pale green, very conspicuously striated on the under side, smooth and glossy on the upper surface, 
with an inconspicuous horny margin, 8 — 10 in. long by i£ — 2 in. broad at the base. 
Stem, about 6 — 9 in. long, bearing 3 — 6 or more flowers, sessile in the axils of the leaves. 
Spathes, 3 — 4 in. long, pale green, lanceolate, very pointed, clasping the tube, and reaching beyond 
it, somewhat inflated, 1 -flowered. 
Pedicel, none. 
Ovary, trigonal, with a shallow groove, and a slightly raised central rib on each face, § in. long. 
Tube, 2 — 2% in. long, slender at the base and becoming wider above, flushed with purple in the 
upper part. 
Falls, apt to vary somewhat in shape, but having always large wings or auricles, which curl over 
the styles. The blade is of a rounded oblong shape. There is a more or less yellowish, conspicuously 
raised median ridge, and the colour is of a somewhat variable bluish white, usually marked with veins 
of a greenish or deeper blue tint. 
Standards, horizontal or deflexed, the canaliculate haft expanding into an obovate or oblanceolate 
blade, usually with a lobed edge, bluish, 1 in. long by £ broad. 
Styles, i£ in. long, blue-lilac, deepening in colour towards the base, and usually of a deeper shade 
than the rest of the flower. 
Crests, deltoid, finely crenate, pale blue, large, overlapping. 
Stigma, bilobed. 
Filaments, white, equal in length to the anthers. 
Anthers, cream coloured. 
Pollen, white. 
Capsule, sharply trigonal, with thin walls, with the outline of the seeds showing through. 
Seeds, oval or spherical, not compressed, with brown wrinkled coats. 
Observations. 
It is not impossible that, when Baker described his Xiphion Aucheri, he was really describing 
some variety of the Iris that we now know and cultivate as I. sindjarensis. The behaviour of Iris 
flowers as they dry is most erratic. Some specimens keep their colour for months or years, and others 
lose it at once. Baker had before him only three dried specimens collected by Aucher-Eloy (no. 2137). 
The same difficulty of determining colour from dried material makes it likely that /. fumosa is merely 
a form of /. sindjarensis. 
I. sindjarensis is the earliest of the tall Junos to come into flower, as might be expected of a 
plant that comes from much lower levels and a warmer climate in Mesopotamia than its relatives in 
Turkestan. It is variable both in the colour and to some extent in the size and shape of the flowers. 
This latter variation is generally to be found in the length of the blade of the falls, which may be 
very short and project almost horizontally, or be much longer and reflexed. 
Most specimens have a delightful fragrance resembling that of vanilla or almonds, which is most 
pronounced when the sun is shining on them. 
There is at least one beautiful hybrid of I. sindjarensis crossed with pollen of /. persica. This 
produced a dwarfer plant than the seed parent, very floriferous and having flowers of a turquoise blue. 
The exact shade varies, I feel sure, from year to year and in different soils, for I have certainly seen 
specimens in which the colour was much less bright, and yet Mr Hoog, the raiser, has assured me 
that all the plants now in commerce have originated from a single bulb. A feature of the plant is 
the golden central ridge on the blade of the falls that it has inherited from the pollen parent. 
/. sindjarensis is not quite as vigorous in England as the Bokhara and Turkestan species. That 
is to say that the exertion of flowering usually exhausts the plant to such an extent that only weak 
bulbs too small to flower the next year are formed. These will, however, grow on to flowering size 
in the following seasons. 
