222 
The Reticulata Section 
t + /. RETICULATA 
(Plate XLV, Fig. i) 
M. Bieberstein, Flor. Taur. Caucas. I. p. 33 (1808), *Cent. Plant, rar. Taur. Cauc. L t. 11 (I8IO) 1 . 
•Regel, Gartenflora, XIII. (1864), pp. 132, 323, t. 452. 
•Bot. Mag. t. 5577 (1866). [Specimen from Persia apparently intermediate between the type and Krelagei .] 
•Eeden, Album, t. 30. 
•Regel, Gartenflora, 1873, p. 354, t 779, fig. 1. 
Gard. Chron. *1879, I. p. 501, fig. 69. *1884, I. p. 217, figs. 41, 43, 44. 
1885, I. p. 567, 1909, p. 55. 
Boiss. FI. Or. V. p. 120 (1884). 
Le Jardin, 1888, p. 139. 
•Revue Horticole, 1890, p. 133. 
•Joum. Hort Soc. xxvm. fig. 115 (1904). 
Synonyms. 
Neubeckia reticulata, Alefeld in BZ. XXI. 1863, p. 297. 
Xiphioti reticulatum, Klatt, Linnaea, XXXIV. 1866, p. 572. 
Fig. 30. Spathes, capsule, and withered 
perianth tube of /. reticulata, and 
capsule of /. Danfordiae. 
Var. Krelagei, *Regel, Gartenflora, 1873, p. 354, t. 779, fig. 2. 
•Sweet, Brit. Flow. Garden, ser. II. vol. II. t 189 
<*« 33 ). 
•Lodd. Bot. Cab. L 1829 (1832). 
•Gard. Chron. 1884, I. p. 217, fig. 42. 
•Rev. Hort. Belg. 1892, p. 60. 
•Joum. Hort Soc. xxvm. fig. 121 (1904). 
Var. humilis, Foster, Bulb. Irises, p. 59 (1892). 
Var. cyattea, *Regel, Gartenflora, 1874, p. 162, t 797, fig. 1. 
Var. purpurea, Leichtlin ex Foster, Bulbous Irises, p. 60 (1892). 
[N.B. No specimens of these three plants are apparently 
now obtainable and it is uncertain whether they belong 
here or whether they should be classed with I. histrio. 
There is in cultivation yet another variety under the name 
of Melusine\, which may conceivably be the cyattea of 
Regel. It is a somewhat slender plant and the flowers, 
though variable in colour when raised from seedj, are 
always of some shade of grey or purple blue, very different 
from the deep-blue violet of the so-called type. In the best 
examples the colour is an approach to a light Cambridge 
blue. Whatever may be the origin of the plant, it is 
certainly more closely allied to I. reticulata than to 
I. histrio.'] 
Distribution. The Caucasus. The type and Krelagei. 
Caucasus (Georgia), 1831, Hohenacker (K) (C) (V). 
Caucasus, 1831, Prescot (K> 
Caucasus, Tiflis. 1909, Bot. Gard. (HortD). 
[These specimens all produced red-purple flowers.] 
Tiflis, 1882, Schumann (V). 
, Szovits (V) (B). 
1829, Steven (V). 
, Koch (B). 
Talysch, 1848, Buhse (V). 
Diagnosis. 
I. reticulata Xiphion ; bulbus tunicis reticulatis instructus ; folia basi vaginis albis elongatis obtecta, 
praesubulata, tetraquetra ; caulis obsoletus ; tubus gracillimus, 3-pollicaris. 
Description. 
Rootstock, a slender bulb, growing in cultivation to as much as 1 in. in diameter, with creamy 
netted coats. 
Leaves, 2, 3 or 4 to each bulb, quadrangular with four unequal sides (see the section on Plate XLV) 
and horny edges and tip, each leaf springing from two nearly colourless basal clasping sheaths. The 
longest is about 12 in. long at flowering time, the others being usually much shorter. 
Stem, very short. 
Spatke valves, narrow, clasping the tube, with a transparent edge, 3 — 6 in. long. When the flower 
opens the spathes reach to the top of the tube, but in a day or two the tube grows another inch and 
raises the flower by that much above the spathes. 
1 It is by no means certain that Bieberstein’s plant was precisely the form that we commonly grow as the type. Either the 
colouring of the plate is inexact or his plant was a paler blue form. 
