IRI 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



I RI 



761 



reflexed petals or falls, which on their outside are of the 

 same colour, but the lip has a yellow streuk running through 

 Ue middle, and on each side are many dark spots, with one 

 large deep purple spot at the bottom. It is greatly esteemed 

 for the beauty and extreme sweetness of its flowers, as well 

 as for its early appearance in the spring ; for it is generally 

 in perfection in February, or at the beginning of March, 

 according to the forwardness of the season. Like the Hya- 

 cinth and Narcissus, it will blow within doors in a water- 

 glass, but stronger in a small pot of sand or sandy loam, and 

 a few of its flowers will scent the whole apartment, See the 

 nineteenth species. In propagating it from seed, the boxes 

 in which the seeds are sown, should be put under a garden 

 frame in winter, to shelter them from hard frost. 



31. Iris Angusta; Narrow-leaved Iris. Beardless: leaf 

 filiform, linear, upright, smooth ; scape smooth, one or two- 

 flowered ; spathes blunt. Bulb ovate, tunicated, smooth, 

 fibrose, the size of a hazel-nut; flowers terminating; claws 

 of the larger petals yellow with the edge white, dotted with 

 purple on both sides; smaller petals lanceolate, blunt, yellow, 

 streaked with dusky purple on the outside. Native of the 

 Cape, on the hills below Duyvelsberg, and Lewekopp. 



32. Iris Setacea ; Bristle-leaved Iris. Beardless: leaf fili- 

 form, linear, upright, smooth ; scape smooth, one-flowered ; 

 spathes acute, membranaceous. Flowers small and blue. 

 Native of the Cape. 



33. IrisTenuifolia; Slender- leaved Iris. Beardless : leaves 

 filiform, linear; scape two-flowered. Flower terminating, pale 

 blue; outer lip of the stigma very short and blunt Native of 

 Siberia, in the sands of Dauria, and near the Wolga. 



34. Iris Giaminea ; Grass-leaved Iris. Beardless : leaves 

 linear; scape subbiflorous, ancipital ; germina hexagonal. 

 Flowers two or three, small ; the petals have a broad yellow 

 line with purple stripes; the three falls are of a light purple 

 colour striped with blue, and have a convex ridge running 

 along them ; the others are of a reddish purple, variegated 

 with violet, and smell like fresh plums. Native of Austria. 



35. Iris Spuria; Spurious Iris. Beardless: leaves linear; 

 scape round, subtriflorous ; germina three-cornered. Stem 

 two or three feet high; flowers commonly two, with light blue 

 standards, and purple variegated falls, having a broad white 

 line in the middle instead of the beard. It flowers in July. 

 Native of wet meadows in Germany and Austria. 



36. Iris Sibirica ; Siberian Iris. Beardless : leaves linear ; 

 scape round, subtriflorous ; germina three-cornered ; flowers 

 blue, in brown scariose spalhes. It flowers in May and June. 

 Native of Siberia, Austria, and Switzerland. 



37. Iris Flexuosa ; Wave-leaved Iris. Beardless : leaves 

 linear, flexuose ; stem three-flowered, round, thick; germina 

 three-cornered. Flowers terminating, three, the middle one 

 peduncled, the others, as also the lower solitary one, subses- 

 sile ; corolla white; the reflex petals have the border tooth- 

 letted, the claw linear, yellow, with violet-coloured veins ; 

 the upright petals shorter by half, wholly white, waved, with 

 very narrow claws. It is very like the preceding species. 

 Native of the same places. 



38. Iris Martinicensis; Martinico Iris. Beardless : leaves 

 linear; petals with little glandular pits at the base; germina 

 three-cornered. Stem upright, roundish, two feet high, sim- 

 ple ; flowers few, coming out successively from the same spathe, 

 yellow, without scent, peduncled. It flowers here in June; 

 but in Nov. and Dec. in Martinico and St. Lucia, where it is 

 found in moist and mountainous woody pastures. 



39. Iris Pavonia; Peacock Iris. Beardless: leaf linear, 

 smooth; scape one or two flowered. Scape round, jointed, 

 villose, simple, a foot high, sustaining one or two flowers, 



VOL. i. 64. 



which are orange-coloured, with black spots and dots at the 

 base, and a heart-shaped blue spot above the base, which at 

 bottom is tomentose and black. Native of the Cape, in 

 Swartland, &c. among bushes. 



40. Iris Crispa; Curl-leaved Iris. Beardless: leaves linear, 

 curled. Scape grooved, flexuose, divided at top, a hand or 

 more in height; flowers terminating, alternate, the lower 

 peduncled, three or four in number; corolla six-petalled ; 

 alternate petals larger; border ovate, obtuse, veined, yellow, 

 and very finely dotted at the flexure. This varies in the 

 colour of the corolla, yellow, with blood-red veins, blue, and 

 flesh-colour. Native of the Cape of Good Hope, on the hills 

 near Cape Town. 



41. Iris Papilionacea. Beardless: leaves linear, reflex, 

 rough-haired. Bulb ovate, coated, the size of a pea; scape 

 upright, hairy, divided, many-flowered, a hand in height; 

 flowers expanding successively. There are also several vari- 

 eties of this species, with the petals and pistils red within, 

 a yellow spot at the knee, and a dusky circle ; and the larger 

 petals yellow, with a green circle at the knee ; the borders 

 of the lesser petals and inner lips of the stigmas blood-red. 

 Common on the hills about Cape Town. 



42. Iris Edulis ; Edible Iris. Beardless: leaf linear, pen- 

 dulous, smooth ; scape smooth, many-flowered. Flowers 

 solitary, or several alternate, chiefly directed one way; petals 

 connate at the base. It varies with blue, white, and yellow 

 flowers, the first having dusky streaks, and the last spotted. 

 This, as also several of the African sorts, furnish nutriment 

 both to men and monkeys. The bulbs with the scapes col- 

 lected in bundles, and gently boiled, are esteemed pleasant 

 and nourishing. Common at the Cape, in the sands of 

 Greonekloof, Swartland, on Duyvelsberg, and the low plains 

 near Cape Town. 



43. Iris Tristis ; Drooping Iris. Beardless : leaves linear, 

 smooth; scape rough-haired, branched ; smaller petals nar- 

 rower by half than the others, ovate, lanceolate; tube green- 

 ish, connate at the base; all the borders dull-coloured or 

 rufescent, with a red keel, bright yellow at the bending. 

 Native of the Cape, below Duyvelsberg;, near Cape Town. 



44. Iris Polystachya; Branching Iris. Beardless: leaves 

 linear, flat; scape smooth, branched. Flowers large, hand- 

 some, blue with yellow at the flexures. Native of the Cape, 

 between Sondag-riviere and Visch-riviere. 



45. Iris Viscaria. Beardless: leaves linear, flat; scape 

 viscid. Border of the larger petals ovate, bluntish, whilish 

 at the flexure. Native of the Cape, in Saldanhn-bay. 



46. Iris Bituminosa. Beardless: leaves linear, spiral; scape 

 viscid. Flowers solitary, on peduncles; corolla reflex, yellow 

 all over. Native of the Cape, near Berg-riviere, &c. 



47. Iris Tuberosa; Snakes-head Iris. Beard loss : leaves 

 quadrangular. This has a tuberous root: from this arise five 

 or six narrow, long, four-cornered leaves; and from between 

 these the stalk supporting one small flower of a dark purple 

 colour. Native of the Levant. It is propagated by the 

 roots, which send out offsets, and may be taken up and 

 transplanted when their leaves decay, but should not be kept 

 long out of the ground. If planted in a deep loose soil, 

 the roots will run down, and be lost in a few years where 

 they are not disturbed ; so they should be annually trans- 

 planted, and have a shallow soil. They are hardy, and only 

 require weeding. If they are to be increased, they should 

 not be removed oftencr than once in three years. They 

 flower best when planted to an east aspect. The distance 

 which should be allowed is six inches square, and they should 

 be planted three inches deep in the ground. As they mul- 

 tiply pretty fast by the roots, few persons raise them from 



9H " 



