404 WILD FLOWERS. 



" God " in the language of the successors of the 

 ancient Illyrians. The iris of that country is said 

 by Pliny to have been the finest in quality, and it 

 was of two varieties ; " the best kind being that 

 which causes sneezing when handled." 



The Iris germanica and sisyrvnchium are both 

 natives of Egypt ; and the latter grows abundantly 

 in the alluvial plain near the desert, below the 

 Pyramids. 



The Hottentots of the Cape have a most poetical, 

 and even touching, mode of reckoning their ages, or 

 the death of those whom they have loved, by the 

 number of times the blossoms of the oenkje have 

 opened to the sun. These oenkjes are a species of 

 iris, the roots of which they roast in the ashes, using 

 them as an article of food, which bears a close re- 

 semblance to potatoes. The word oenkje is em- 

 ployed by them, not only as a name for the plant, 

 but also for marking a period of time ; the new 

 year commencing when the plant first peeps out of 

 the ground. The signification given to it is similar 

 to that attached to arista by Claudian, who uses it 

 for summer. 



Britain possesses two native species of the iris, the 

 /. pseudacorus, with yellow blossoms, and the /. 

 foetidissima, with small flowers of a dull vivid 

 purple : for, as Sir J. W. Hooker justly observes, 

 " It is much to be regretted that our Flora is now 

 encumbered with the Iris tuber osa, L. (E. Bot. 

 Suppl. Ed. Cat.) a native of the Levant and other 

 countries bordering on the Mediterranean, formerly 

 cultivated for its medicinal properties, and a well- 



