226 POPULAR GARDEN FLOWERS 



yellowish flowers veined with green in early summer, is 

 a comparatively young species with us, and is one of the 

 most esteemed of the Cushion section. It is one of the 

 " Regelia " Irises of the bulb catalogues, and was intro- 

 duced from Turkestan, a region of Central Asia, in 1874. 

 Another Regelia is vaga, purple, blue, and yellow, which 

 also comes from Turkestan. These Regelia Irises have 

 been crossed with large-flowered Cushion Irises (techni- 

 cally classed as the Oncocylus section), and the hybrids 

 are called the Onco-regelia section, the class names of the 

 plants having been compounded. The flowers are netted 

 on a blue, white, or rose ground. The hybrids are quite 

 new, having been first exhibited in the early part of the 

 present century. Several received awards from the 

 Royal Horticultural Society in 1904. They are expensive 

 as yet, and may be left to Iris specialists. They like a 

 warm position, and light, well-drained soil. 



Another pretty member of the Cushion class is 

 Lortetii, which was introduced from Armenia in 1890. 

 It has creamy flowers marked with rose. Another 

 Cushion is the Wolf's Fur Iris, lupina, which has 

 greenish flowers veined with red and bearded heavily. 

 It was introduced from Kharput in 1887. Neglecta, two 

 feet high, with pale blue or lilac flowers in May, t. 2435 

 in the Botanical Magazine, is a good rhizomatous Iris, 

 and there are several charming varieties of it. Pallida 

 is also a tall " Flag " Iris, and has many varieties. 

 Nigricans, maroon and purple, is a very dark cushion 

 Iris. 



We get back to the bulbous Irises again with 

 orchioides, a dwarf grower, with yellow flowers, in April. 

 It is a new species, as Irises go, having been introduced 

 in 1880. See the Botanical Magazine ', t. 7111. Persica 

 and reticulata also belong to this section. The former, 



