THE IRIS 155 



eternal silver-grey and silver-green of the trees and 

 familiar, sun-resisting plants festoon each hill and 

 drape each acclivity and slope. The tilled ground 

 stretches in terraces and climbs in steps ; sinks 

 broadly to the valleys with wedges and squares of 

 corn and vine ; cuddles at the bottom of these terrific 

 declivities, and marks by an added warmth of colour 

 or luxuriance of foliage the presence of little water- 

 courses that wind beneath them. Against the pre- 

 valent pallor of the wind-kissed olive, the cactus 

 and aloe, the agave and the eucalyptus, is splashed 

 deep green of citrons, and the acacias flame above. 

 Far away the Djurdjura Mountains run south against 

 the blue, and beyond them a spur of the Lesser Atlas 

 lifts snow to the sun. 



Stylosa alba is pure white with a tone of yellow- 

 green at the claw. If you take a bird's-eye view 

 of this iris, a beautiful six-rayed star appears. The 

 guiding line of orange stops very abruptly on the 

 fall in the midst of a silver-white expanse of petal- 

 It is a little stiffer in form than the type, and with 

 me it seems more shy of blooming. 1 My clump of 

 stylosa has increased immensely in a soil much like 

 that of its home ; and still I prefer the delicate native 

 plant before those various larger and richer-coloured 

 garden sorts now commonly to be met with. Nothing 

 rejoices a flower-lover more than a dozen buds of 

 stylosa picked the day before blooming, and despatched 



1 Stylosa alba. I did not find this iris wild : it is very rare in that 

 state. But I had the pleasure of meeting its original discoverer, an 

 English resident, who has a beautiful garden at Mustapha Superieur. 



