IRIS VIRGINICA. 



BOSTON IRIS. 



NATURAL ORDER, IRIDACE/E. 



Iris Virginica, Linnjeus. — Stem round, slender, few-flowered; leaves linear, long; flowers 

 beardless; ovary triangular, the side doubly grooved. Rliizoma fleshy. Stem smooth 

 one to two lines in diameter, one foot to two feet high, branching at top and liearing two 

 to six flowers. Bracts at the base of the branches withering. Leaves few, alternate, 

 grass-like, six to ten inches long, amplexicaul. Sepals narrow, yellow, edged with purple. 

 Petals linear-lanceolate. {\<[oo(\.'s C/ass-Book of Botany. See also Qx'z.f^ Manual of the 

 Botanv of the N'orthcrn United States, and Chapman's Flora of the Southern United 

 States.) 



HE Iris is well known to all lovers of flowers. It occurs 

 abundantly in a wild condition, and is a favorite in gar- 

 dens ; it has frequently been treated in poetry, painting, and 

 sculpture, and plays an important part in history. In mythol- 

 ogy it is said to have come from heaven. Iris was a messenger 

 employed by Juno, and she is generally represented as sitting 

 behind her mistress, her wings glittering like pearl, and radiant 

 with all the colors of the rainbow. Her name, indeed, which 

 literally means " eye of heaven," is the Greek word for rainbow. 

 The historical importance of the Iris is due to the fact that it 

 became the national flower of France. As such it has acquired 

 a world-wide reputation under the name of " Flower de luce " or 

 " Fleur de lis," which is nothing but a corruption of " Fleur de 

 Louis." But it had a political significance long before it was 

 officially adopted by the kings of France. It was used as an 

 emblem by the Byzantine emperors, although in what relation 

 does not now appear, and the early Prankish kings of France 

 also employed it. There is a legend, quoted by Prior, that a 

 shield filled with these flowers was brought to King Clovis while 



