The Xiphium Section 
219 
Anthers , cream. 
Pollen , yellow. 
Capsule , 2 — 2^ in. long, narrow, rounded trigonal, with deeply grooved sides. 
Seeds, small, wedge-shaped, wrinkled, of a rather yellowish brown, very numerous, as many as 236 
having been counted in a single capsule. 
Observations. 
The name of this species is perhaps a little misleading, for although in some specimens, especially 
in the case of non-flowering bulbs, the leaves are very long, narrow and threadlike, yet in others they 
are distinctly stouter. This variability of the foliage has led to some confusion owing to the fact that 
a stout form was figured in the Botanical Magazine as Xipkion tingitanum (cf. synonymy). /. filifolia 
differs from /. tingitana in its broad, bluntly rounded standards and in its colour. It is perhaps one of 
the most striking of the Xiphium section. Its rich red-purple flowers are of a shade that is not found 
elsewhere. Another peculiarity is that the central orange patch is surrounded by a halo of blue. A 
microscopic examination reveals the fact that no blue pigment is present and that the blue colour is 
produced by a mixture of the orange and the red-purple cells, where the two colours run one into the 
other. 
This Iris does not seem to be any more difficult to cultivate than the other members of the 
group. See p. 210. Its leaves shoot in autumn and yet plants from Spain, at any rate, have remained 
untouched by twenty degrees of frost, when the foliage of I. tingitana has been severely crippled. It 
does not flower until June. 
+ /. TINGITANA 
s 
Boiss. et Reut. Pugill. PI. Nov. 113 (1852). 
•BoL Mag. 6775 (1884) (Type in Hb. K.). 
•The Garden, 1888. 
Journ. Hort. Ser. III. 4, p. 429. 
Gard. Chron. 1905, xxxvii. 339. 
1906, XL. 24. 
1910, xlviii. 16—17. 
Synonyms. 
/. xiphium, Desfontaines, FI. Atlant. L 37 (1798). 
I. Fontanesii, Baker, Hdk. Irideae, p. 40 (1890) from Gren. et Godr. FI. de 
France, ill. 245 (1855-6). See Observations. 
Xiphion Fontanesii, Baker in J. L. S. XVI. p. 123 (1878). 
Distribution. Morocco. 
Tangier, 1800, Durand (BM). 
1825, Salzmann (K). 
N. Morocco, 1886, Moseley (B). 
Alcazar (Kloot Country), 1878, Brady (K). 
Rabat (Tomara Forest), 1887, Grant (K). 
Morocco, 17 — , Desfontaines (P). 
Diagnosis. 
I. tingitana Xiphion ; /. xiphio affinis sed perigonii tubus elongatus ; seg- 
ment a omnia coerulea, interiora lanceolata. 
Description. 
Rootstock, an oval bulb, tapering to a point above, the outer tunics being 
thin, of a reddish-brown colour, smooth with well-marked veins. 
Leaves, six or seven to each plant, usually springing from a clasping red- 
spotted sheath at the ground line, rigid, channelled, the outer side glaucous 
green, conspicuously striated, the inner surface silvery grey, about a foot to 
18 in. in length. 
Stem, 18—24 inches high, completely hidden in the clasping leaves. 
Spathe valves , 4—6 in. long, keeled, pointed, bright green, with a mem- 
branous edge and tip, 1 — 2 flowered. 
Pedicel, an inch or more in length. 
Ovary, i£ in. long, trigonal, narrow with deeply grooved sides and thin 
walls. 
Tube, 1^ — 2 in., hardly visible between the diverging tips of the spathes (cf. Fig. 29). 
Falls. The purplish haft becomes rapidly wider immediately above the base and then narrows 
before expanding into the almost orbicular blade, of which the groundwork is a light whitish blue 
with darker purplish veins radiating out towards the margin. A patch of yellow surrounds the end 
of the raised, almost orange, central ridge, which sinks into a greenish stripe along the haft. 
28—2 
Fig. 29. The inflorescence of 
/. tingitana, showing the 
long perianth tube. 
