160 THE BOOK OF THE IRIS 



years without flowering, till at last the hot summer of 

 1900 apparently caused it to flower. With Sir Michael 

 Foster it has flowered in pots kept in a frame. I believe 

 the true plant has flowered in Cambridge close to a south 

 wall. It usually grows quite freely. 



II^. I. juncea, Desf. Bot. Mag., t. 5890, Garden, 

 1898, Dec. ID, plate 1200. Xiphwn junceum, Klatt. I 

 consider this a lovely Iris and it is very distinct, being 

 the only tall Xiphion with yellow flowers and a long 

 perianth-tube. Its flowers are fragrant. The bulb is 

 globose, with thick rigid reddish-brown outer coats, 

 splitting into long stiff fibres at the top. The leaves 

 are very slender and rush-like, appearing late in autumn, 

 they are superposed and sub-terete, the lower a foot 

 long. The stem is slender and flexuose, one-headed, 

 I to \\ ft. high, bearing two flowers if in good con- 

 dition ; spathe 2j to 3 in. long; valves greenish lanceo- 

 late ; pedicels short. The perianth-tube is I to 2 in. 

 long, very slender; limb ij to 2 in. long, rich yellow in 

 the type ; falls with an orbicular blade an inch broad, 

 much exceeding the haft in width, which curves in 

 where it reaches the blade ; standards oblanceolate, \ in. 

 broad, shorter than the falls ; style-arms narrowly 

 cuneate, an inch long ; crests larger quadrate or, as in 

 a specimen before me, equally curved from base to apex 

 and forming together a nearly exact oval. Flowers in 

 June or July. Native of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, 

 Sicily and Italy. 



Its culture needs a hot dry spot and it must be kept 

 dry for some time after flowering. Sir Michael Foster 

 recommends lifting and replanting somewhat late. He 

 finds it more vigorous in a moderately stiff loam than in 

 sandy soil. 



Var. numidica, figured in Garden with type, as above 

 quoted, is African and has lemon yellow flowers. 

 Messrs Krelage of Haarlem distribute a sulphur-coloured 



