IRIS 201 
as any native. There are now scores, if not hundreds, 
of gardens all England over that possess big established 
tufts of Iris wunguicularis, as solid and autochthonous in 
appearance as if they had come over from Normandy 
with all our ancestors in the train of Matilda Duchess. 
The more sunshine you can give it, of course, and the 
more exposure to sun, the better will the plant thrive 
and bloom. But this sun-loving Algerian is as hardy as 
anything need be, and will never suffer from any English 
winter, unless you have been very brutal to it indeed in 
the matter of soil and situation. Further, the dense, 
spidery leafage into which our shadowy English climate 
leads it has one very favourable result, for the exquisite 
blossoms, peering up as they do into the sere, dead eye 
of midwinter, must undoubtedly be ravished and spoiled 
and dishonoured by rains and storms were it not for their 
protecting nest of foliage, which would be so unnecessary 
under the brilliant clear winter of Algiers. As for the 
white wnguicularis, it is a flower straight from heaven— 
a transcended snowy Crocus or Zephyranthes. 'The plant 
is choice, but not much more delicate than the type— 
though, being rare and so exquisite, it has a right to 
extra-special attention in the matter of soil, site, and 
guardianship. 
Tris graminea and Iris prismatica are, roughly speaking, 
miniatures of wngwicularis, blooming in early summer, 
on short stems, amid a thin jungle of long grassy leaves. 
The flowers are large, of thin build and design, in vary- 
ing shades of purple. The prettier of*the two, I think, is 
I. graminea, which has a fine, hearty fragrance of plums ; 
but both are perfectly easy to grow in any open place on 
the rock-work, where they go on for many years and never 
need any attention beyond, perhaps, the occasional stimu- 
lant of a little fresh, rich soil. Jris douglasiana is a rare, 
new North American, of whom I can say little. Iris 
