28 Claims of Vris tuberbsa 



we may attain to the desired Correctness. This cannot be 

 effected, unless the observers in different counties will make 

 known their discoveries ; and this, I trust, will soon be carried 

 into effect through the medium of your Magazine. 



Yours, &c. 

 Richmond, Yorkshire, September 20. 1830. T. E. L. 



Art. XL On the Claims of Tris tuherdsa as a Native of Ireland, 

 and on some Peculiarities in its Growth and Flowering, By the 

 Rev. W. T. Bree, A.M. 



Sir, 

 I DO not know whether botanists in general are aware that 

 the beautiful /ris tuberosa has any pretensions to be considered 

 as native to Great Britain ; yet its claims to a place in our 

 indigenous flora are at least as strong as those of many other 

 plants that have been admitted into it. Being at Cork some 

 years ago, I was informed by Mr. Drummond, the intelligent 

 curator of the botanic garden there, that the above iris grew 

 wild in that neighourhood. On my expressing some surprise 

 at this intelligence, — surprise almost amounting to disbelief, 

 - — Mr. Drummond said, if 1 would only be at the pains of tak- 

 ing about a quarter of an hour's walk, he would convince me 

 pf the accuracy of his statement. Accordingly I accompanied 

 him to an old hedge-bank at no great distance from the town, 

 which he assured me abounded with it. This occurred in the 

 month of October, when, of course, the plant was entirely 

 under ground, and no vestige even of the decayed leaves to be 

 seen above. Mr. Drummond began to dig (as it were at 

 random) with his knife in the bank, and in a very short time 

 presented me with a good handful of the roots, which I took 

 home, and have cultivated in the garden ever since. The 

 bank, I should observe, was composed of very dry soil, owing 

 to the roots of the strong old quicksets which grew upon and 

 shaded it, and formed the fence. In this apparently unfa- 

 vourable situation, however, Mr. Drummond assured me the 

 iris produced flowers ; he also mentioned another spot in the 

 vicinity of Cork where it occurred wild: I think, if my 

 memory serves me, it was near some old ruin in the neigh- 

 bourhood. It will, perhaps, be thought by some that the iris 

 was not really a native in the above situations, but merely the 

 accidental outcast of a garden. This, however, does not 

 appear probable, as the plant is by no means common — I 

 may say it is rare — in gardens ; nor does it seem likely that 

 it should have been planted in this spot by some one who 

 wished to naturalise it. 



