51 



Iris than to any other Iris, and I venture to think that we may 

 probably regard it as an Iris which has descended from the same 

 ancestors as the Juno Irises, though it has taken another line of 

 development ; its greatest divergence is shown in the stem some- 

 times being branched. 



The flowers of I. nepalensis, borne on a stem a foot or so in 

 height, are very pleasing, owing partly to their graceful form 

 and partly to their delicate colour, which is a pale lavender, due 

 to delicate violet veins on a creamy white ground. Unfortu- 

 nately, the bloom is very fugitive ; opening in the morning, it closes 

 and is over before evening ; moreover, the plant, in my hands at 

 least, is not very floriferous, and, in addition, needs very special 

 treatment. It has to be supplied with abun- 

 dant moisture all the summer, and yet to be 

 kept very dry all the winter. The latter end 

 may be gained by lifting the roots in late 

 autumn and storing them until spring in dry 

 sand, treating them in fact like bulbs ; but I 

 find that plants so treated are not so vigorous 

 as those which are left in the 

 ground and dried by being 

 covered with lights. To the 

 ordinary gardener the result 

 will not seem worth the 

 trouble, and I do not think 

 that I. nepalensis will ever 

 become a favourite. More is 

 to be hoped from a variety of 

 the species found by Lieut. - 

 Col. Stone on the Chin Hills 

 in Upper Burmah, and sent 

 by him to Mr. P. Barr ; this I 

 have ventured to call I. nepalensis var. Letha. It hardly differs 

 at all from the type, except that the flowers are quite sessile ; 

 but it is much more floriferous, and, so far as my short experience 

 goes, much less impatient of the vagaries of our English climate. 

 A plant, of which I simply helped the ripening by covering it 

 with a light in late autumn, stood exposed and unprotected, save 

 for a loose mulching, all last winter (1891-92), and flowered 

 freely at the end of June. The delicate lavender flowers, nestling 



FIG. 31. BESTING BUD OF IBIS NEPALENSIS. 



