IRIS VIRGINICA. 



BOSTON IRIS. 



NATURAL ORDER, IRIDA< 



Iris VIRGINICA, Linnaeus. — Stem round, slender, few-flowered; leaves linear, 



beardless; ovary triangular, the side doubly grooved. Rhizoma fleshy. Stem 



one to two lines in diameter, one foot to two feet high, branching at top and 1" ai 



to six flowers. Bracts at the base of the branches with* i 



grass-like, six to ten inches long, amplexicaul. Sepals narrow, yellow, edged with purple 



Petals linear-lanceolate. (Wood's Class-Book of Botany. S 



Botany of the Northern United States, and Chapman's Flora of the Southet n 



States.) 



HE Iris is well known to all lovers of flowers. It occurs 

 abundantly in a wild condition, and is a favorite in gar- 

 dens; it has frequently been treated in poetry, painting, and 

 sculpture, and plays an important part in history. In mythol- 

 ogy it is said to have come from heaven. Iris was a messenger 

 employed by Juno, and she is generally represented as sitting 

 behind her mistress, her wings glittering like pearl, and radiant 

 with all the colors of the rainbow. Her name, indeed, which 

 literally means "eye of heaven," is the Greek word for rainbow. 

 The historical importance of the Iris is clue to the fa< t that it 

 became the national flower of France. As such it has acquired 

 a world-wide reputation under the name of " Flower de luce '* or 

 " Fleur de lis," which is nothing but a corruption of " Fleur de 

 Louis." But it had a political significance long before it was 

 officially adopted by the kings of France. It was used a- an 

 emblem by the Byzantine emperors, although in what relation 

 does not now appear, and the early Frankish kings ol France 

 also employed it. There is a legend, quoted by Prior, tha 

 shield filled with these flowers was brought to King ( lovis while 



