223 
The Reticulata Section 
Pedicel , short at first, but becoming two or three inches long after flowering. 
Ovary, cylindrical, £ in. long. 
Tube, 3 — 6 in. long, pale violet, with six deeper stripes. 
Falls: under surface . The median portion is green, with black violet dots and dashes, the rest of 
the surface purple violet. 
Upper surface, slightly panduriform, the haft (i£ in.) being deeply channelled, having along the 
centre a low yellow or rather orange ridge with black blotches. This is flanked on either side by a 
white region spotted with black violet, outside which the colour is purple with deep veins. The ovate 
blade (£ in. long by £ in. wide) is sharply deflexed, of a rich violet, with a raised orange ridge, bordered 
on either side by a white region, with broken violet veins and spots. 
Standards , usually slightly longer (2^ in.) than the falls, narrow oblanceolate unguiculate, folded 
together laterally in the upper part, emarginate, poised at an angle of about 6o° with the horizontal. 
Styles, about i| in. long, with nearly parallel sides, keeled, of a reddish purple colour. 
Crests, large, triangular, with a coarsely serrate edge. 
Stigma, deeply bilobed, with two rounded teeth. 
Filaments , £ in. long, pale violet. 
Anthers , ^ in. long, pointed, bluish. 
Pollen, yellow, the grains being of a pointed oval shape, with a depression running round the 
longer axis. 
Capsule, cylindrical, 1^ — 2 in. long, with papery walls, 3 or 4 times as long as broad, pointed at 
either end, and raised above the surface of the ground by the elongated pedicel (cf. Fig. 30). 
Seeds, when fresh, consist of two spheres separated by a slight constriction, one being white and 
the other pale pinkish brown. When fully ripe, the white end withers away almost entirely, leaving 
a brown seed with a smaller lighter appendage. 
Observations. 
See the introductory notes on the reticulata section. 
t XI. HISTRIO 
(Plate XLV, Fig. 2 and Plate XLVI, Figs. 2, 3 and 4) 
Reichb. fil. BZ. 1872, p. 388. 
Boiss. FI. Or. v. p. 121 (1884). 
Baker, Hdk. Irid. p. 42 (1892). 
•Gard. Chron. 1892, II. p. 729. 
1897, p. 105. 
•Joum. HorL Soc. xxvm. figs. 116 and 117 (1904). 
Synonyms. 
*Xiphion histrio, Bot. Mag. 6033 (1873). 
I. reticulata var. Histrio, Foster, Bulb. Irises, 57 (1892). 
Lynch, Book of the Iris, p. 163 (1904). 
I. Libani, Reuter MS. ex Baker in Gard. Chron. 1876, I. p. 559 (K). 
Synonym. 
-f-Var. atropurpurea, see Observations. Plate XLVI, Fig. 3. 
/. reticulata var. atropurpurea. Dykes in Gard. Chron. 1909, I. p. 113. 
-f-Var. orthopetala, see Observations. Plate XLV, Fig. 2. 
DISTRIBUTION. Syria (Lebanon) and Asia Minor. 
[N.B. It is difficult to distinguish with certainty I. histrio from its variety orthopetala and from /. histrioides 
in the dried state. Bommiiller's Amasia plant is, however, I believe, the original I. histrioides and the 
form now supplied under that name by Messrs Van Tubergen.] 
Lebanon, 1855, Gaillardot (K). 
1863, Gaillardot (K). 
1873, Barbey (K). 
Safita, 1866, Fox (K). 
Marash, 1907, Gordon (HortD). 
Adana, 1879, Danford (K). 
Cilician Taurus, 1876, Danford (K). 
Amasia, 1889, Bommuller (K) (B). 
Egin (Armenia), 1890, Sintenis (V) (B). 
Erzeroum, 1853, Huet du Pavilion (K). 
Diagnosis. 
I. histrio Xiphion ; I. reticulatae similis sed flos guttatus ; bulbus bulbulos plurimos basi emittet 
folia florem turbinatum superant. 
