138 MY GARDEN 



If you do not like it after a fair trial, you can eat 

 the bulb. 



I now reach that rare and precious flower, I. ne- 

 palensis. My roots flowered during July, and I can 

 therefore give you a picture of the blossom. Last 

 year this dainty atom opened its eyes somewhere 

 under the snow-line of the Himalayas ; this year, 

 with amazing amiability, it appears again in South 

 Devon. What a staggering change of scene is here ! 

 It is a pity there was no I. Milesii out at the right 

 moment to welcome the other mighty traveller. 

 Nepalensis has a medium-sized flower of the softest 

 and most dovelike silvery lavender. Falls and 

 standards all droop daintily at the same angle, and 

 in the midst spring up the fimbriated style-cowls. A 

 good yellow-bearded crest runs far into each fall, 

 and the petal about it is veined with the prevailing 

 tint of lavender on white. 1 The bloom opens on a 

 stem six inches long, and the sprightly foliage is 

 about twelve inches high. Unhappily the flower is 

 very fleeting, and my efforts to catch it and convey it 

 to the photographer would win your admiration if I 

 recorded them. Nepalensis opens not much before 

 noon, and has usually vanished by half-past three 

 o'clock ; but you shall seek far to find anything 

 more beautiful. 



1 Mr. Lynch specially praises the other variety of this species, which 

 is called Colletii. 



