BULBOUS IBISES. 



By Professor M. FOSTEE, F.B.S. 

 [A Lecture delivered May 3, 1892.] 



[The following contains the substance of the lecture as given, 

 though I have somewhat expanded and variously modified what 

 I actually said ; and I have added a detailed description of the 

 several species. 



I am much indebted to the editors of the Gardeners' 

 Chronicle and of the Garden for the loan of woodcuts ; the 

 source is indicated in each figure. Those figures which bear the 

 name " Caparn " were most kindly drawn for me by my friend 

 Mr. J. W. Caparn, of Oundle. The rest were prepared for me 

 by Mr. Wilson, of Cambridge. Unless otherwise stated, the 

 figures are of natural size.] 



I PROPOSE to treat my subject as much as possible from a 

 gardener's point of view, and shall therefore not take up more 

 time than is necessary with botanical details. To start with, 

 I use the term " bulbous " in the gardener's, not in the botanist's 

 meaning. We gardeners are regarded, and indeed justly re- 

 garded, by the botanists as being very loose in our use of the 

 word " bulb "; we often include as bulbs what ought to be called 

 " corms," " tubers," or the like. I do not propose to discuss 

 to-day which Irises form " true " bulbs, and shall use the term 

 " bulb " in the loose gardening sense. If a gardening definition 

 of a bulb be wanted, we may perhaps say that " it is a specially fed 

 bud which separates of its own accord from the mother stock 

 in order to live an independent existence." 



Iris Sisyrinchium. 



Let me begin by calling your attention to a little bulbous 

 Iris which is perhaps the most widespread, geographically 

 speaking, of the whole genus, and at the same time probably 

 one of the oldest Irises in existence, retaining the archaic 

 features of the stock from which many other Irises have 



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