THE IRIS 129 



dragged from under the bushel, where you will 

 hide it. 



Pardon this digression. I was naming the various 

 sections when led away. Beside those already men- 

 tioned, we must flit through the great rhizomatous 

 groups and glance at Apogon, embracing the beard- 

 less people ; Evansia, the crested family ; Pseu- 

 devansia, whose beards begin but never get any 

 forwarder ; Oncocyclus, the glorious company of 

 cushions ; Regelia, heroines allied to the last and 

 much intermarried, with Sir Michael Foster as 

 Hymen. And finally we reach Pogoniris, or the 

 bearded folk. 



Photographs of irises are never entirely satisfac- 

 tory. The purity of colour, the translucence of 

 petal, and the fantastic forms of many among them 

 cannot be reproduced happily. Even paintings are 

 of little worth. Take reticulata, for example. A 

 glance at the real thing will show the difficulties. 

 These small irises defy pictorial reproduction, just 

 as the small orchids do. You might as well try to 

 paint a minute piece of cunning jewellery. Such 

 living gems must be seen alive and examined with 

 a magnifying glass before you can appreciate the in- 

 finite delicacy of their mottling, the balance of their 

 frail parts, and the brilliancy of their pigments. 



To begin with Xiphion, Xiphioides and Xiphium 

 are the two great branches of this group, and to my 

 mind the first, or " English " iris, as it is called, stands 

 ahead of the " Spanish" sort. They come quickly after 

 Xiphium, and soon make me forget it. Of Xiphioides 



