Beardless Iris Project 



By George M. Reed 

 Japanese Iris (Iris Kaempferi) 



The established plants of Japanese Iris gave abundance of 

 bloom during the pasl >easi n, the first flowers appearing on sev- 

 eral varieties on June twenty-sixth. 'The flowers continued daily 

 until August first, when the last buds on two varieties opened. 

 The material was very sal is factory for making comparisons be- 

 tween the different plants and, as a result, considerable progress 

 was made in the description and identification of the varieties. 



It has proved a difficult matter to correctly identify the Japanese 

 Irises. The original descriptions are often not available and fre- 

 quently lack sufficient detail for correct identification. Sometimes 

 it is not even stated whether the variety is single or double- 

 flowered. 



There were several noteworthy additions to the collection of 

 varieties during the past year. At the end of 1926, 29 varieties 

 were received from Vilmorin-Andrieux & Cie. These came in 

 the midst of winter, but were carried over in the greenhouse and 

 coldframe and set out in the field in earl) spring. Practically 

 every plant stir', h d md man) if them bloomed during the cur- 

 rent season. A collection of sj varieties of Japanese origin was 

 received from the Donard Nursery, Ireland. These reached us 

 in very poor condition in May instead of in March. However, 

 practical!} ei iriet h di w ign of o ^ di and while the 

 likelihood of bloom next • 1 1 eat, yet the plants are grow- 



ing and in time will doubtless flower. The 18 new varieties of J. 

 A. Kemp, Little Silver, New Jersey, were also obtained. John 

 Lewis Childs, Inc. presented us with their collection of 21 newly 



During the fall all of the older established varieties were divided 

 and transplanted to new beds. As far as i....-iM--. these were ar- 

 ranged for planting according to the color classification scheme 

 previously worked out. It will thus be possible to observe next 

 season the varieties of similar color growing close together. 



A new set of experimental beds was started in the spring. 



