54 Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 



thought, was contracted to "Fleur De Luce," and again to its present 

 form, "Fleur-de-lis." It was incorporated in the coat-of-arms of 

 France and used to decorate the crown. Many bloody battles were 

 fought when Edward III. claimed France for the English crown and 

 added the flowers to England's coat-of-arms. It was only in 1801 

 that they disappeared from the English shield. Shakespeare makes 

 mention of the plants, in "Henry VI.," when a messenger enters 

 and exclaims : 



"Awake, awake, English nobility! 

 Let not sloth dim your honors new begot; 

 Cropped are the flower-de-luces in your anus; 

 Of England's coat one-half is cut away." 



The roots of these plants were esteemed during the Middle Ages 

 for their supposed medicinal qualities and were used in the prepara- 

 tion of about forty different remedies, guaranteed to cure ailments 

 ranging from sore throat to broken bones and the disorders of 

 teething babies. A perfumed oil was obtained from some varieties, 

 and in Italy and Japan they make perfumes and face powders that 

 are much valued at the present time. Orris-root is obtained from 

 the Florentine Iris of Italy. Nothing seemed to escape the Indian 

 of California when he depended upon nature for a livelihood, and 

 it is not surprising that he found the stout fibers in our Iris leaf and 

 drew them out to fashion ropes, nets and snares. 



The Iris has been called the "poet's flower" and has had a large 

 place in the literature of the past. But they have not always found 

 favor with writers, for Thoreau, that great lover of flowers, for 

 some strange reason disliked them, and said: "They are too showy 

 and gaudy, like some women's bonnets." In strong contrast are the 

 following rich lines from an unknown poet : 



"The iris grown between- my place and the neighbors 

 Is just burnishing in its deepest color and glory; 

 I wish that some one would come and see it 

 Before it withers away, and returns to the dust." 



Mary Austin, in her "Land of Little Rain," found the Iris tint- 

 ing the fields with a fine touch of color, but in that region it was "a 

 sketchy flower," a thing of little beauty in the individual blossoms. 

 But along the coast and in more favored regions the flowers are 

 quite stately enough to merit the lines of Holmes : 



"It blooms in May and June. 

 O'er her tall blades, 



The crested fleur-de-lis, 

 Like blue-eyed Pallas, 

 Towers erect and free." 



