The Xiphium Section 
217 
be more tender than those of any other species of Xiphium and are killed or injured by frosts that 
leave the others unharmed. They should therefore be grown either in a frame or in a position where 
they can be easily protected in bad weather. 
t I. Boissieri 
•Henriques, Bol. Soc. Broter. III. 1885, 183, t 3. 
•Willk. 111 . PI. Hisp. II. t. 1 18 (1886-92). 
Foster in Gard. Chron. 1887, II. p. 38. 
•Baker in Bot. Mag. t. 7097 (1890). 
•Joum. Hort Soc. xxvm. fig. 122 (1903-4). 
Synonyms. 
/. htterophylla , Merino, Boletin de la Sociedad Aragonesa de Ciencias Naturales, vii. p. 131 (1908). 
•/. diversifolia, Merino, l.c. p. 225. 
Flora de Galicia, III. p. 149, figs. 1 and 2 (1909). 
Distribution. The Serra de Gerez in Portugal at a height of 2000 — 3000 feet. 
Serra de Gerez, 1887, Murray (BM). 
1884, Moller (B). 
1888, Murray and Tait (B). 
[N.B. By a curious mistake the letter-press of the Botanical Magazine figure puts the Serra de 
Gerez in the south of Portugal. As a matter of fact it is in the extreme north on the 
Spanish frontier. That I. Boissieri extends over the border is shown by Merino’s specimens, 
which were collected near the river Limia in the Spanish province of Orense. It is noticeable 
that Merino does not mention I. Boissieri in his description of his supposed new species.] 
Diagnosis. 
/. Boissieri Xiphion ; segtnenta exteriora luteo-barbata. 
Description. 
Rootstock , a slender bulb with faintly ribbed brown tunics. 
Leaves , linear, very deeply channelled, slightly ribbed on the outside, about a foot long, of a light 
yellowish green. 
Stem, about 12 in. high, bearing one or two flowers, hidden, except for the upper inch or two, 
by three sheathing leaves. 
Spathe valves , light yellowish green, not at all scarious, rather navicular, 2 in. long. 
Pedicel , ^ in. 
Ovary, i£ in. acutely trigonal. 
Tube, about i£— 2 in. long, slender. 
Falls. The obovate blade narrows somewhat suddenly to the wedge-shaped haft. The colour is 
a rich blue purple with conspicuous red-purple veins. There is a narrow pointed signal patch of yellow, 
which becomes a yellow streak along the otherwise reddish-purple haft. Along this yellow streak and 
almost to the end of the patch runs a beard of thin yellow hairs. 2 in. by £ in. 
Standards, obovate, gradually narrowing to the short haft, purple in the upper part and reddish 
below, erect not connivent, i£ in. long by | in. broad. 
Styles, held close down on falls, reddish purple with dark streak along the central ridge. 
Crests, triangular, darker than the styles. 
Stigma, deeply bilobed. 
Filaments, short. 
Anthers, large, slightly longer than the filaments. 
Pollen, yellow. , . c ... 
Capsule, trigonal, narrow with shallow groove on either side, 1* in. by \ in., of a light terracotta 
Seeds, small, spherical or pyriform, dark reddish brown, occasionally somewhat flattened. 
Observations. 
This is one of the most distinct of the Spanish Irises, from all the rest of which it differs m 
having a conspicuous beard of bright yellow hairs. 
It is apparently confined to the Gerez mountains in Northern Portugal and even there it . .be- 
coming rare owin<r to the depredations of reckless collectors. Unfortunately, too, .t is not absolutely 
hardy in England, certainly not so hardy as the ordinary Spanish Irises. The severe winter of ,908-9 
killed all my bulbs, including even a number of seedlings which had not fl ° w " e , ^ suc( . eeds bcst 
■ “ r d h the trusln h d er well V drle P d OSm in a"y else the' tata shouH be lifted in early August and 
ITept L saTd f: aTw weeks .0 ensure their haring a thorough res, before growth begins again with 
the autumn rains. 2 g 
D. 
