XIPHION 157 



they are well worth special treatment. Late planting 

 for late flowers has been tried, but as the bulbs insist 

 upon growing, success by this means cannot be obtained. 

 The " Spanish Iris," it may be noted, grows late in 

 autumn, so that the foliage has attained some height 

 before winter sets in. The " English Iris " does not 

 produce leaves until spring. The "Spanish Iris" has been 

 very successfully grown at Kew in pots. Seedlings 

 are easily raised, and it is interesting in this way to 

 produce new forms. If seed is plentiful, it may be 

 sown in the open ; but if not, it is better to sow in a 

 frame, or where the protection of a light can be given. 

 If the quantity is quite small it should be sown in 

 a pan. 



III. I. xiphioides, Ehrh.Beitr., vii. 140 ; Bot. Mag., 

 t. 687; Red. Lit., t. 212. Xiphion latifolium, Miller, 

 " English Iris." The bulb is ovoid, with brown coats, 

 which when old split into fibres at the top. The leaves 

 are glaucous, linear, complicate, the lower a foot long, 

 appearing in spring ; the stem is stout, one-headed, 

 bearing two, sometimes three flowers, I J to 2 ft. long ; 

 the spathe-valves are green, lanceolate, ventricose, 3 to 4 

 in. long ; the pedicels are much shorter than the spathe. 

 The perianth-tube is obsolete, limb 2 to 3 in. long, dark 

 violet purple in the typical form, according to Mr Baker ; 

 wild plants, Sir Michael Foster says, being usually of 

 rich deep blue, with a conspicuous golden " signal " on 

 the fall; the falls have an orbicular blade \\ in. broad, 

 narrowed to and shorter than the cuneate haft ; 

 standards shorter than the falls, oblong or obovate, 

 J to I in. broad ; style branches above an inch long ; 

 crests large, subquadrate. The capsule is large, of long 

 pointed oval shape, with three flattened sides ; the seeds 

 are rounded or pyriform, with wrinkled coats. Flowers 

 after the Spanish Iris in July. Is native of the French 

 and Spanish Pyrenees, in the west of Spain reaching to 



