THE WHITE ROCKERY 117 



but none worth dwelling upon. We are told that 

 they succeed with the same treatment as ixias a very 

 favourite statement in catalogues ; but I have not 

 found it so. However, the loveliest of all, M. glaucopis, 1 

 generally called the peacock iris, does well with me, 

 and you shall not see anything lovelier in the family 

 than its blue, purple, and black eye on a white ground. 

 The reverse of the fall is streaked with purple. M. 

 iridioides, white, yellow, and brown, is strongly recom- 

 mended and considered quite hardy in Holland; but I 

 know it not. There has been a tremendous botanical 

 clearance in this genus, and a dozen familiar things, 

 most of which I have already mentioned, are now 

 turned out of it. Mr. ]. G. Baker, the first expert, 

 says that a "line of demarcation between Iris and 

 Morcea has been drawn in different places by different 

 authorities." He follows Bentham and places Iris 

 in the North Temperate zone and Moraea at the Cape 

 and in tropical Africa. The rule is simple, and 

 where Bentham and Baker march hand in hand, 

 you and I may follow with easy confidence. The 

 grand M. Robinsoniana came from Australia during 

 1877, and is now in all good catalogues. It resembles 

 on a smaller scale the habit of phormium tenax, and is 

 in its own country the favourite wedding flower. I 

 have so far failed with it in the open, and have not 

 heard that it has prospered thus ; but this year I 



1 M. glaucopis. The real name of the familiar Iris pavonia is Moraea 

 glaucopis,^ the owl-eyed morsea; but for my part I shall not desert the 

 peacock's tail for the owl's eye. The true Morsea pavonia appears to be 

 another plant. 



