396 
CALIFORNIA.— SUPPLEMENT. 
{JridecB. 
For the following observations on N. American Irides we are indebted to the Honourable and Rev. Wm. 
Herbert of Spofforth “ I believ^ that no bearded Iris has yet been discovered in America, the only ex- 
ception being the alleged pubescence of the base of the petals (not sepals) in 1. liexagona; Walt. FI. Car. 
a plant erroneously confounded by Michaux with I. Virginica. L. — (germine sub-trigono apiculato, caule 
1-2 furcato, furca superiore semper submquali. mst .) — whereas liexagona, of which there are several varieties 
from Texas, New Orleans, and other parts of the southern states (germine hexagono, caule indiviso, floribus 
inferioribus axillaribus. mst.') has not the forked stalk which distinguishes all the numerous varieties of the 
former. I. lacustris is reported to have bearded sepals, but I suspect it will be found to have rather crests, 
like 1. cristata, of which it has precisely the aspect, a fact which I shall not have an opportunity of verifying 
before the spring. I also doubt the truth of any American Iris having a fistulous stalk, that remarkable 
feature being confined to the numerous varieties of I. Sibirica. I believe that Pursh’s statement, that the 
Missourian Iris of Lewis has fistulous stalks, simply implies that, w’hereas that plant has been erroneously 
named Sibirica, Sibirica is fistulous, but I place no confidence in the fact as to Lewis’s specimen. It is possi- 
ble that I. Tolmieana, (mihi)* which in a dry state has much the aspect of I. Sibirica v. sanguinea, may be 
Lewis’s plant. t I- Sibirica v. sanguinea, has been separated by Continental botanists under the name 
haematopliylla, with an allegation that its scape is solid, a statement which is quite incorrect. It is cer- 
tainly a variety of Sibirica, having not only the fistulous stalk, but every other important feature of that 
plant, especially the two gibbous teeth near the base of each sepal, which, though not recorded, are, I believe, 
peculiar to that species, and rarely, if ever, obsolete. I. Beecheyana has been confounded by the collector 
with J. liumilis, a plant of the Ukraine, found especially near Elizabethgrod ; as I. Ruthenica has, on the 
other hand, been confounded with it in Russia, from whence Ruthenica has been sent with the wrong name 
to the British nurserymen. J. Tolmieana may be at once distinguished from humilis by its strong thick 
rootstalk. The plant most nearly allied to humilis is I. Cretica, mihi, found in Crete, and also near Napoli 
di Romania, foliis subseptemuncialibus vix lineam latis acutis basi ampliatis marginibus coriaceo-crispis, 
uncias solido \ unc. ampliato libero, limbo biunciali. I apprehend it has never been observed that the true 
character of the genus Iris is a short ventricose or somewhat funnel-shaped tube free from the style, and a solid 
subcylindrical base w hich in some species is little more than a point of union, and in others is prolonged many 
inches. This solid part of the tube is in some species of the same texture as the thick parts of the limb, in 
others of the coriaceous texture of the germen from which it has in that case no decided point of separation 
outwardly discernible. These important circumstances in the structure appear to have been neglected by 
botanists. The true stigma of Iris is transverse below the crests of the style, and its form is very different 
in different species : another most important feature which has been neglected, but it cannot be ascertained 
in dry specimens. In the numerous native specimens I had seen of 1. tenax, whether from Newfoundland 
or the N. W. of America, the spathe is one-valved, the second valve being placed like a bracte an inch below, 
on the stalk. A similar disturbance of the spathe takes place in I. Douglasiana v. bracteata.” W. 
Herbert. 
* Iris Tolmieana ; imberbis, foliis anguste (sub ^ unc. latis) erectis acutis basi purpureis caule (bifloro) 
solido nudo brevioribus, spatha bivalvi acuta subtriunciali germen alternate oblongum (vix) subaequanti, tubo 
brevi (A unc. libero vix lineam solido) sepalis (ultra 2i uncialibus) petala circiter biuncialia superantibus, styli 
lobis ultra sesquiuncialibus (cristis bidentatis ?), perianthio caerulescente ? — I. hamatophylla var. Valametiana. 
Herb, in Hook. Flor. Bor. Am. 11, p. 206. 
Hab. Prope fluvium Walamet in FI, Columbiam ex parte meridionali tendentem legit Tolmie. 
f I rather refer his to a race of Iris extending from the hills of Kentucky to Canada, I. Caurina (mihi) 
folio i-f unc. latis vel ultra, caule bracteato simplici vel ramulo axillari, germine oblongo, tubo brevi ample 
parte solida brevissima. 
