The Reticulata Section 221 
purple forms are always in flower at least a fortnight, if not a month, earlier than the typical /. reticulata. 
Why the change in colour should retard the flowering is not apparent, but I have never known the 
type to flower until some weeks later than the first Krelagei. 
The polymorphous character of I. histrio was well illustrated by a number of bulbs that I received 
some years ago from Marash in Asia Minor. They all agreed in having the divergent standards, 
which I take to be typical of I. histno 1 (cf. Plate XLVI), but differed to an extraordinary extent in 
colour and marking. Some were much blotched, others were hardly blotched at all but merely veined, 
some were pale blue, others dark, and one was the remarkable form that I have named atropurpurea 
(see Plate XLVI, Fig. 3). 
In cultivation, the reticulata Irises are capricious. In some situations, they become diseased* and 
die out, with the exception perhaps of one or two small bulbs, which persist and grow into flowering 
clumps a few years later. This disease appears to be most easily held in check when the bulbs are 
lifted every other year. This frequent lifting may be troublesome, but it has the additional advantage 
that the flowers are displayed to much better advantage when the shape of each stands out distinct 
and is not merged in a mere mass of brilliant colour. 
My own practice has been to lift the bulbs soon after the leaves have died completely away, 
and to treat them for disease as suggested at p. 16. They are then dried in the shade and packed 
away in dry sand until September or early October, the earlier date for replanting being on the whole 
preferable. 
As regards soil, the chief recommendation is to ensure efficient drainage and the presence of some 
lime. If the natural soil is very poor sand, it is well to enrich it with a heavy dressing of well 
decayed leaves and crumbled clay. The addition of old manure produces very large bulbs, but tends, 
I think, to introduce disease. 
All the forms of /. reticulata are liable to be fertilised by insects, though the capsules thus 
obtained are rarely as full of seeds as those that result from the artificial pollination of all the three 
stigmas of the flowers. 
Seeds may be sown in the open about ^ an inch deep in fairly rich light soil, and the bulbs may 
either be left to flower on the spot, or perhaps preferably be lifted after two years and replanted in 
rows a few inches apart. They should flower in their third or fourth year. 
A curious point will be noticed in the development of the flowers of these Irises. The growth 
of the buds inside the spathes is slow but, once the spathe bursts open and reveals the bud, growth 
for a short time is extraordinarily rapid, and I have actually measured it as one inch in seven hours 
and two and a half inches within twenty-four hours. 
An apology must be made for the inartistic means adopted in order to economise space in the 
illustrations of these Irises. It was impossible to include a complete drawing of each plant, and it is 
hoped that the habit of growth is sufficiently indicated by the drawing of /. reticulata , and by the 
descriptions given in the text of the other species. 
Analytical Key to the Reticulata section. 
2. 
3 
4 - 
{ Leaves tubular with 4 or 8 ribs. 
Leaves linear, channelled, with thickened edges. 
f Leaves tubular with 8 ribs at equal intervals. 
Leaves tubular with 4 ribs at unequal intervals. 
Inner segments (standards) reduced to mere bristles. 
Inner segments (standards) approximately equal in length to the outer segments 
(falls). 
(Bulbs producing comparatively few offsets, each of considerable size. 
(Bulbs producing a large number (15—25) of ver y smal1 offsets. 
Flowers produced with or before the leaves. 
Flowers overtopped by the leaves. 
1. 
I. Kolpakowskiana 1 (p. 228). 
1. Bakeriana (p. 227). 
2 . 
I. Danfordiae (p. 226). 
3 - 
/. reticulata (p. 222). 
4 - 
I. histrioides (p. 224). 
I. histrio (p. 223) and its 
subspecies I. Vartani 
(p. 225). 
colour and tallied with the description of /. Krelagei. The seedlings observed resulted from seeds saved in several consecutive 
years and certainly present a puzzle, for no Mendelian hypothesis will explain the change of colour. Even if the type were an 
F. hybrid and the colour of Krelagei acted as a dominant, it is remarkable that no trace of the recessive character has appeared. 
It is also noteworthy that, although the pollen of the type is invariably of a golden yellow colour, the seedlings have either 
white or yellow pollen in approximately equal numbers. . . . . 
• Reichenbach's original description neglects the point but his expression “petalis longe unguiculatis is more suited to this 
form than to those with upright standards (see Plate XLV) and moreover the feature is clearly brought out in the figure in 
Foster’s Bulbous Irises, p. 8. 
• For this disease and its treatment see p. 16. „ 
• /. Winkleri is possibly, and indeed probably, a synonym of /. Kolpakowskiana. It is said to differ by having smooth and 
not netted coats to its bulbs. But herbarium specimens might easily have lost their outer coats, as was the case with the first 
bulbs of I. Danfordiae that were described. 
