154 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



duced into England till 1877 ; and yet already, from its 

 free flowering and abundance of seed, it has become in 

 some gardens almost a weed, and when introduced into 

 our woods, as is now being done, there is little doubt it 

 will soon become completely naturalised, and be a com- 

 panion and rival of our bluebells. The mass that was 

 discovered by Mr. Maw on Nymph Dagh (4000 feet) 

 was described by him as ' forming one of the most 

 sumptuous displays of floral beauty he ever beheld, a 

 mass of blue and white, resembling XfnHyhihi insigni* 

 in colour, but more intense and brilliant ' ; and no one 

 who knows the plant will doubt the correctness of his 

 description. 



Hut, even l>efore the'squills and the Chionodow, our 

 spring gardens do not want blue flowers. We gener- 

 ally associate the iris with the early summer, but there 

 are two that will flower in the midst of snow as beauti- 

 ful as any of their summer brethren, and it is hard to 

 say which of the two is most beautiful. They arc the 

 /. .</{//<>./, of a very delicate blue, and sweet-scented, 

 which comes from Algiers, Corfu, and the Morea, and 

 of which there is a white variety of great beauty, look- 

 ing like a white orchid ; and the 7. A /<>!//<//</, a bulbous 

 species, with a smaller flower of a rich deep violet 

 colour, and sweet-scented, which conies from Asia 

 Minor, Syria, and Persia. Both of these are perfectly 



