117 
flowers are of the richest, truest blue to be found among the 
irises. Unfortunately it is rarely listed, nor is the much less 
effective blotched variety, I. albopurpurea, and we must be satis- 
fied with the garden varieties of Kaempferi, which come in a 
wide range of color and form. 
These have been developed probably slowly through centuries 
of selection in China and Japan to their present size, but did not 
flower in Europe until Siebold’s importation became established 
at Ghent in 1857. Almost immediately, however, Japanese irises 
won popularity, were imported in large quantities, sometimes 
under Japanese names, more often in mixture, and during the 
sixties and seventies we find firms listing them in great variety. 
Unfortunately many firms used names to suit themselves and the 
practise has continued to a certain extent up to the present day 
with a consequent confusion in nomenclature. It is in an attempt 
to straighten out this confusion that The American Iris Society 
is fostering a trial collection at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.* 
At least five hundred names have been used in the catalogs ; prob- 
ably one hundred and fifty would easily cover the distinct varie- 
ties now in cultivation, and the task ahead is no sinecure. 
The Japanese irises of our gardens have reached a higher state 
of development than any of their kin; we may have them single 
or so double that even the style-branches seem to have been meta- 
morphosed into broad spreading falls, and from the red purple of 
the type the range of colors has been widely extended though in 
none is there a vestige of yellow as a body color. The pure 
white Gold Bound is quite commonly listed, some are of solid 
red or blue purple in varying shades and tints, some are flecked 
with white or light tones upon the darker ground while others 
are suffused or veined, or splotched with the darker hues. All 
have a heavy substance, one seems actually to feel the thickness of 
the petals, but some are waxy or show a silky sheen on the sur- 
face, and the smooth carriage of the segments may be modified 
by a broad waving or even a sort of crimping or ruffling. The 
colors are rarely alive, as an artist might state it, but the expanse 
of color gives great garden value. We hear tales of individual 
blooms a foot or more across, and when one realizes that the 
* Cf. pp. 00-00, and 00, infra. 
