3 



In one point of intimate structure namely, the coalescence 

 of the filaments of the stamens in their lower parts with each 

 other and with the styles it shows its affinity to some of the 

 South African Irids, for instance, to the genus Moraea; and, 

 indeed, by some authors the plant is spoken of as a Moraea, and 

 not as an Iris. But I will not dwell on this, except to say that 

 the amount of coalescence is variable. 



As a rule, this Iris does not do well in this country. In all 

 its natural habitats it is 

 sent to rest after flower- 

 ing, being dried and 

 baked by the heat of a 

 dry, hot, rainless summer; 

 this it does not naturally 

 meet with in our land. 

 And, though it is a pretty 

 little thing, it hardly re- 

 pays the efforts necessary 

 to give it artificially such 

 a summer. Whenever I 

 have been able to get in- 

 formation as to the soil 

 in which it lives at home, 

 that soil has been, in 

 nearly all cases, not 

 " peaty sand," but a stiff 

 clay, baked to a hard 

 brick in summer. And 

 though I cannot pretend 

 to have had much success 

 in cultivating it, it has 

 seemed to me happiest 

 when grown in the stiffest 

 soil at my command. Pro- 

 bably in most places in this country the best plan would be 

 to take the bulbs up after flowering, and replant in autumn. In 

 any case it needs the hottest, sunniest spot. 



The Eeticulata Group. 



I have suggested that I. Sisyrinchium is a very ancient 

 primitive bulbous Iris, a bulbous Iris which still retains many 



FIG. 2. IBIS SISYRINCHIUM. 



