Difference: SpecTaurii (r6 vs. r5)

Described in Gardeners' Chronicle 1901 by Mallet as "Iris Tauri (siehe)-
This new Iris (fig. 74) gives promise of proving the best of its group, both as regards hardihood and richness of colouring. It bears ageneral resemblance to I. Heldreichi, but is of a much darker colour throughout, and bears three flowers on each plant. The bulb is cone-shaped, 1 ½ inch long; the leaves are 4 to 6 inches long when fully grown, tapering, ¼ to ½ inch wide at the base, and have scabrous margins. Three flowers are produced in succession, each measuring 3 to 4 inches high, and about 3 ½ inches across. The dark blue falls are 1 ½ inch long, and are furnished with broad, ascending side lobes; the blades of the falls are coloured intense purple-black; they are not flat as in Heldreichi, but are contracted in the middle, and a few linear spots of white surround the rich orange median ridge. The standards are depressed, scoop-shaped, much serrated, ¾ inch long; the styles, which are enclosed by the lobes of the falls, are purplish-blue in colour, the prominent serrated crests of which are coloured richer blue, and are occasionally margined with white; the flowers are about the size of Heldreichi at its very best. They retain their rich colouring for a long period, lasting fully three weeks in good condition. This iris flowered in the open about February 25, having endured without any protection whatever the
in Heldreichi, but are contracted in the middle, and a few linear spots of white surround the rich orange median ridge. The standards are depressed, scoop-shaped, much serrated, ¾ inch long; the styles, which are enclosed by the lobes of the falls, are purplish-blue in colour, the prominent serrated crests of which are coloured richer blue, and are occasionally margined with white; the flowers are about the size of Heldreichi at its very best. They retain their rich colouring for a long period, lasting fully three weeks in good condition. This iris flowered in the open about February 25, having endured without any protection whatever the
month or so of wintry weather which preceded that date-the leaves and flower buds were quite uninjured. The plant was shown in company with I. Heldreichi and other bulbous Irises at the Royal Horticultural Society on March 12"

I. Tauri, Siehe ex G. B. Mullet in Gard. Ghron. 1901, vol. i. p. 190, fig. 74, et p. 313.
According to a note in the Gardener's Chronicle (I.e. p. 313) by Mr. Siehe of " Hortus Orientalis," Mersina (near Tarsus), the discoverer of this beautiful little species, it is a native of alpine pastures in the Eastern Taurus, at six thousand five hundred feet elevation, and of the upper forests of Juniperus excelsa at four thousand five hundred feet, where it flowers, on the melting of the snow at the end of February and the beginning of March. As stated under I. stenophylla, Hausskn. (tab. 7734), Mr. Siehe was the discoverer of that plant also, and in the article cited he gives as its exact habitat (of which I had previously no information), " in undergrowths of Pinus Laricio, var. Bruttia, especially preferring dry, overgrown, hilly slopes of fine red loam." A third Iris of the same section discovered by Mr. Siehe, is I. Bolleana, Siehe, Gard. Cron. I.e. a hitherto undescribed species, except in so far as that the leaves are said to be narrow and curled, with white, membranous margins, and the flowers clear yellow. It inhabits limestone rocks near the sea at elevations of six hundred and fifty feet to nine hundred and fifty feet.

A plant of J. Tauri was received at the Royal Gardens, Kew, in 1900, from Mr. Siehe, in a batch of bulbs of I. stenophylla. It flowered in a frame in January of the present year.