ISONANDRA. 



171 



snails, or to rot from too much wet ; 

 and the bulbous -rooted kinds, which 

 should be taken up and replanted 

 every second or third year, as the 

 new bulbs, which are formed every 

 season, are always directly under the 

 old bulb ; and thus in the course of 

 a few years the bulbs descend so low 

 as to be out of the reach of the air, 

 and consequently incapable of vegeta- 

 tion. Thus it will be generallyfound 

 that persons in the habit of gi-owing 

 Irises are always complaining of losing 

 their plants, whiletherealfaiiltrests 

 with themselves for not taking up 

 their bulbs at the proper time. The 

 bulbous and tuberous-rooted Irises 

 succeed best in sandy peat, or in any 

 light and dry soil. The splendid 

 Chalcedonian Iris is one of the tube- 

 rous-rooted kinds ; and it not only 

 requires a dry soil during winter, 

 but to be allowed plenty of pure aii- 

 during the whole period of its growth, 

 or it will be very apt to damp off. 



Irish Ivy. — The Giant Ivy, H. 

 canariensis, which, though called 

 Irish, is in fact, a native of the 

 Canary Islands. 



Irish Yew. --Theupright-growing 

 Yew, which forms a flame-shaped 

 tree like the upright cypress, or the 

 Lombardy poplar, instead of spread- 

 ing like the common kinds. When 

 young, it makes a very handsome 

 shrub, from the iine colour and 

 luxuriance of its foliage. 



lsiLTis.--Cruciferce. -I. tindoria, 

 the Woad, is a British plant, used 

 for dyeing blue, and which looks 

 weU in a miscellaneous border or 

 shrubbeiy. Some of the species are 

 dwarf plants, very suitable for rock- 

 work. 



Isona'ndra. — SapotacecE. — /. 

 gutta is the tree which is said to 

 produce the Gutta Percha. It is a 

 native of the Malay Peninsula and 

 Borneo, and has only very lately been 

 introduced into Great Britain. In 



the autumn of 1848, there were, 

 however, two or three healthy 

 plants of it at Kew. 



Isopo'gox . - - Protea cece. — Austra- 

 lian plants, with very curious leaves 

 and flowers, nearly allied to Banksia. 

 They should be grown in peat and 

 sand, mixed with a little tui-fy loam, 

 and the pot should be a third filled 

 with potsherds broken small. These 

 plants are very difficult to cultivate, 

 as they are very apt to damp off ; the 

 cuttings also are extremely difficult 

 to strike. 



Iso'toma. — LohelidcecB. -Annual 

 and biennial plants, which may be 

 sowTi in the open ground, or brought 

 forward in a hotbed, and planted out 

 in May. /. axillaris is a most beau- 

 tiful and elegant plant, the flowers 

 of which look like a large lilac 

 jasmine. 



I'TE A . — Ericacece. — A little hardy 

 American shrub, which requires peat 

 soil in British gardens. 



Ivy. — See He'dera. 



I'xiA. — Iridacece. — Bulbous - 

 rooted plants, with very beautiful 

 flowers, which vary exceedingly in 

 colour and form. They are all natives 

 of the Cape of Good Hope, and they 

 are generally grown in pots in green- 

 houses ; but as, when thus treated, 

 their slender stems are apt to be- 

 come etiolated, and consequently very 

 weak, they do much better in the 

 open garden, treated in the following 

 manner, in the climate of London : — 

 A bed of any length and breadth 

 that may be required, should be dug 

 out to the depth of two or three feet, 

 according to the nature of the soil, 

 a retentive clay requiring to be dug 

 deepest. This bed should have a 

 third part of its depth filled with 

 pebbles, brick-bats, or any other 

 draining material. A stratum of 

 fresh turfy loam should be laid on 

 this, and above it a stratum of 

 rotten cow-dung, so as to fill the bed 



