THE AQUARIUM, JULY, 1894. 



123 



crown of the plant, is often submerged 

 during a large portion of the year, that 

 we see no impropriet}^ in adding the 

 Iris to the list of so-called Water Lilies; 

 particularly, as we propose to treat only 

 of the American and European forms 

 in this article. 



Before we proceed further with this 

 very common plant, let us abandon the 

 idea of its being too commonplace and 

 insignificant, to be worth devoting much 

 time to, for of all common plants, of 

 which this is often considered the least 

 attractive, probably no one is so little 

 understood, even by amateur cultivators 

 as this family of plants. Its flower is so 

 very complicated, that very few, except 

 botanists, really understand its struc- 

 ture, or at least we find quite a differ- 

 ence in the descriptions published by 

 different authors and writers. 



By a reference to standard works on 

 Botany, we find the Iris distributed 

 over the entire world, from the far 

 north, to the southern points of land in 

 South America and New Zealand ; but, 

 in its manner of growth, we find it 

 assumes an entirely different character, 

 in different portions of the world. For 

 example: — In the hot and dry regions, 

 instead of a creeping rhizoma, as with 

 us, it concentrates all its vitality into a 

 bulb or corm, which remains dormant 

 during the prevalence of the drouth, 

 but develops again into activity at the 

 approach of the rainy season. These, 

 of course, are not aquatic jDlants, and 

 will not come under our present consid- 

 eration. In America we have, at least, 

 eight well defined species, usually found 

 in shallow water or swamps, but oc- 

 casionally found in quite dry ground, 

 and presenting the strange analogy of 

 producing flowers of that unusual com- 

 bination of colors,— yellow and blue, — 

 two colors seldom found in the same 



flower, or even in the same genus. In- 

 deed, we have often seen the statement 

 in print, that in no genus of plants 

 can two natural species, or even varie- 

 ties be found, one with a yellow and the 

 other with a blue flower ; but this is 

 certainly a mistake, for numerous gen- 

 era of plants contain one species with 

 yellow, and another one with blue 

 flowers ; the examples of which may be 

 cited, are Crociu, linum, Nymphcea, 

 etc. It is not, however, an usual com- 

 bination of colors, and as some species 

 of the Iris produce flowers with both 

 colors in the same flower, adds an ad- 

 ditional charm to their study. 



Iris Germanica. 



Let US now examine the particular 

 points of interest in our chosen subject 

 for consideration. First, the portion 

 of the plant commonly called the root, 

 is, in this case, nothing more nor less 

 than a prostrate stem, to which botan- 

 ists have applied the name rhizome, 

 which are, usually, only partly covered 

 with earth, but sending down into the 

 ground numerous small rootlets to sup- 

 ply the plant with nourishment. These 

 prostrate stems and rhizomes in the Iris 

 consist of a bundle of coarse and fibrous 

 tissues, thickened with a large store of 

 nutriment, in the form of farinaceous 

 and saccharine matter, well calculated 

 to feed a luxuriant growth of foliage. 



