626 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



I. neglecta is amongst the commonest 

 Flags in cultivation, and one of the tallest 

 growing species, having given rise to 

 numerous garden varieties. Its flowers 

 rarely measure more than i\ in. across, 

 the standards being of a pale blue, with 

 darker shading, and the much reflexedfalls 

 are of a deep blue, veined with purplish- 

 red ; the crest or beard is bright yellow, 

 and very striking. 



I. OChroleuca ( Yellow-banded Flag}. 

 A stately vigorous flag and an old plant 

 in our gardens, the foliage slender, about 

 4 ft. long, and coming up in a graceful 

 twist. The spikes usually bear four or five 

 flowers, white or nearly so, with large 

 yellow blotch on the fall, and some reach 

 nearly 6 ft. in height, strong clumps pro- 

 ducing four or five. Few Flags will 

 thrive better in the ordinary mixed border. 

 There is a variety called gigantea which 

 has larger and finer flowers, but differs 

 in no other way. /. Kerneriana differs 

 only in its smaller flowers and much 

 narrower leaves. 



I. orchioides. Distinct in its rich, dark 

 yellow blossoms with black spots on the 

 lower petals and a vigorous leafy growth. 

 It is a profuse flowering kind, often bearing 

 as many as six blossoms on a single spike. 

 It is a tuberous-rooted species, hardy and 

 free at least on warm soils. 



Iris pallida. 



I. pallida (Great Purple 

 of the stateliest and most beautiful 

 of flags. When in full vigour, the 

 spikes will reach 4 ft. in height, with a 

 succession of from eight to twelve of its 

 large pale-mauve or purple flowers, scented 

 like the elder. There are forms of it, 

 such as the Dalmatian and also Man- 

 draliscae, which have deep blue flowers. 

 It is a fine border-plant, and charming in 

 large groups. 



I. paradoxa. This is a singular 

 Cushion Iris, a native of West Persia and 

 the Caucasus, and fitly called " paradoxi- 

 cal." The fall is reduced to a narrow 



Iris paradoxa. 



strap half an inch or less in width, but the 

 standard is large, erect, and while the 

 small fall is stout and firm, almost leathery, 

 is delicate and flimsy in texture. The 

 ground colour of the claw is a rich crimson 

 or deep pink, but beneath the claw and 

 for some little distance in front of it the 

 crimson hue is all but entirely hid by 

 numerous short dark-purple, almost black, 

 hairs, so thickly set as to imitate velvet 

 very closely indeed. This velvet area, at 

 some distance in front of the end of the 

 style, comes abruptly and squarely to an 

 end, being marked off by a cross bar of 

 rich crimson devoid of hairs. The small 

 portion of the fall in front of this bar is 

 of a creamy- white, traversed by radiating 

 thick dark-purple veins, which are so 

 closely set as to leave little of the ground 

 visible. The plant varies much in size and 



