THE IRIS 167 



variegata proper and others, and I am not too well 

 off in them, though there are few finer sights in iris 

 circles than the spectacle of a hundred good heads 

 of variegata's barbaric gold and crimson displayed 

 under the sun. The standards and style-arms are a 

 fine, rich lemon yellow ; the beard is also yellow, 

 and the fall white and most boldly veined with 

 crimson or crimson-brown. No iris has a more 

 striking system of venation. A few straight lines run 

 parallel from the tip of the beard to the lip of the 

 fall, and from them broad, bold curves of colour 

 bend away to right and left, overrun the petal, and 

 merge into a mass along its lower edge. Great frag- 

 rance is a virtue of this noble iris, and there are many 

 fine-named garden forms of it. Not a few of these 

 are even more striking than the type. You should 

 secure " Gracchus," " Rigolette," and " Malvina "the 

 last a beautiful thing with orange-coloured standards 

 and falls veined and splashed with sepia. Variegata 

 is a common wilding in mid-Europe. 



Iris lurida is not a favourite of mine, but bena- 

 cencis, which I do not know, must be a lovely addition 

 to the group. 



So much for irises. I have not mentioned half the 

 known varieties of these precious plants ; but if your 

 enthusiasm wakens, it is well. Then I shall feel that 

 we have not dawdled for three chapters with the 

 rainbow-flower in vain. 



