46 



clay, "and my own experience indicates a moderately stiff, rather 

 than a very light soil, as proper for it. In any case, it should 

 have a spot as dry as possible in winter, and as hot as may be in 

 summer ; it must be sheltered from winds, and should be kept 

 free from the encroaching roots of other plants, and especially 

 of shrubs and trees, for if it is to live at all in this country, its 

 struggle for existence must be made as light as possible. 



All the Junos of which I have so far spoken come, like the 

 wise men, from the East. The centre of their geographical dis- 

 tribution lies in Persia ; they disappear further to the east in 

 Afghanistan and in the Punjaub, and to the west they are lost in 

 Asia Minor and in Palestine ; the most western representatives 

 are, so far as we know at present, those varieties of I. persica 

 which are found in Armenia and Cappadocia. There is, how- 

 ever, a distinctly western member of the group, one only, which 

 flourishes in the extreme west, in Spain, Morocco, and Algiers, 

 and, stretching eastward, is lost in Greece ; so far as I know, it has 

 never crossed the Bosphorus eastward, just as no eastern member 

 of the group has crossed the same strait westward. This solitary 

 western Juno is the Iris, known long ago to the old gardeners, 

 spoken of by Parkinson as " Clusius his first great bulbous flower- 

 de-luce," and called nowadays I. alata (fig. 28), I. scorpioides, 

 and by various other names. It is fairly abundant in Southern 

 Spain and Portugal, in Algiers and Morocco. It is found in Sicily 

 and Sardinia, and though apparently absent from Southern Italy, 

 reappears, as I have said, in Greece. 



It has all the characters of a Juno Iris ; indeed, the group 

 was founded upon it. The bulb has the distinctive fleshy roots, 

 and the claw of the fall has the characteristic wings ; the 

 standards are minute and turned down ; the crests of the style 

 are large and prominent, and the leaves are numerouife, broad, 

 and lax. The prevailing colour is lilac or blue, the conspicuous, 

 generally fringed or laciniate, ridge on the fall being yellow ; but 

 the flower varies very much in tint, and in the prominence of 

 veins of a deeper blue, and of spots or blotches of yellow ; and a 

 white albino variety is in cultivation. The flower also varies 

 greatly in size, some flowers, notably the variety " magna " and 

 one recently distributed by Mr. Max Leichtlin, being of great size 

 and very beautiful ; it is in every way a desirable plant, even the 

 smaller and less highly coloured ones being welcome. It has a 



