IRIS 



THE HFLli HOOK- 



IRIS 



ing bulbs with brown more or less 

 shaggy coats. The leaves are stouter 

 and broader than those of the Spanish 

 Iris. Flowers in July, of a rich deep 

 blue in the wild type, with a con- 

 spicuous golden keel on the rounded 

 fiddle-shaped fall. {Bot. May. t. 687 ; 

 Jiecl Lil. t. 212.) 



There are now a large number of 

 cultivated forms of the English Iris, 

 varying in colour from blue and 

 through various hues of purple to red 

 and jmre white. In catalogues many 

 distinctive names will be found, some 

 of the best forms being Blanche 

 Fleur, La Sincerite, Oriental, and 

 Mont Blanc, among the whites, the 

 latter being a particularly fine form ; 

 Anna Maria, Bleu Mourant, Clio, 

 Conqnerant, Charles Dickens, Ceres, 

 VOhscurite and Nimrod, among the 

 lilac, blue, and purple and violet 

 shades ; Masterpiece and Nimrod, 

 blackish-purple ; Duke of Portland, 

 La Triomphante, and Penelope, 

 among the white and rose, or 

 purple-spotted and striped shades. 

 There are many other names, all 

 differing according to the particular 

 catalogue. 



I. Xiphium (/. hispanica ; Xiphion 

 vidgare), Spanish Iris. — A charm- 

 ing bulbous Iris, native of S. Europe, 

 with smooth, brownish, ovoid bulbs, 

 and linear, glaucous, awl-shaped 

 leaves 12 to 18 ins. long. Flowers in 

 May and June, 3 to 4 ins. across, 

 variously coloured with shades of 

 purple, bronze, and yellow, and having 

 a large number of garden varieties, 

 including white ones. (Bot. May. 

 t. G8G.) 



A distinct natural form from 

 Portugal, known as lusitanica, has 

 pure yellow flowers with an orange 

 blotch on the fall, and is doubtless 

 the progenitor of the various yellow 

 garden varieties {Bot. May. t. 679). 

 The form known as "Thunderbolt" 



is a strong free-growing plant 2 ft. or 

 more high, having large flowers of a 

 peculiar bronzy or smoky hue, jjro- 

 duccd by the fusion of purple and 

 yellow with brown. The variety 

 Battandieri, from Algiers, is like the 

 type, but has very glaucous foliage 

 and dead white flowers with an 

 orange ridge on the fall. 



As a cut flower the Spanish Iris is 

 excellent. Long before the flowers 



Fig. 21!).— 7ris xiphium. (J.) 



in the British Islands open out of 

 doors, tons of " spears," or unopened 

 blossoms, are sent to the London 

 markets from the south of France, 

 the Riviera, and the Channel Islands. 

 These are placed in water and stood 

 in the genial temi)erature of a hot- 

 house, where they open beautifully 

 bright and clear in a few days, and 

 are then fit for sale. 



The following are a few of the 



318 



