18 



long been known to European gardens. The bulbs have mem- 

 branous, not netted coats ; the leaves are not four- sided, though for 

 the most part long and narrow, almost linear ; and the flowers, 

 generally two, but sometimes one only, are borne on stems of 

 some, and often of considerable, height. 



Two species of this group are exceedingly well known : Iris 



FIG. 14. IBIS XIPHIOIDES, or ENGLISH IRIS. (From the Garden.) 



xiphium (fig. 13), the so-called Spanish Iris, whose headquarters 

 are in Spain, Portugal, and Algiers, but which stretches into 

 Southern France and Italy, and I. xiphioides (fig. 14), the so- 

 called English Iris, found in the Pyrenees. The latter came into 

 the hands of the Dutch gardeners by way of England, being 



