THE IRIS FAMILY. 355 



in the open ground, when they will vegetate the following 

 spring. The first variety exhibited in this country was /. "E. 

 G. -Henderson" (see 'Florist,' 1874, p. 217), which startled 

 horticulturists at South Kensington in 1874 (see ' Gard. 

 Chron.,' 1874, p. 45). This fine form had flat, regular, six- 

 petalled flowers, five inches in diameter, of a rich purple colour, 

 rayed with golden yellow, the form 1 of the flower resembling 

 that of a six-sepalled Clematis. A double-flowered form is 

 alluded to by Kaempfer, and numerous gorgeous forms are now 

 grown in Continental gardens. /. Icevigata is a native of N. 

 Asia and Japan. /. tectorum (see ' Bot. Mag.,' t. 6118) is 

 another fine Japanese plant, wild in the fields around Yoko- 

 hama, and cultivated by the Japanese gardeners. It has reg- 

 ular six-rayed flowers like the last, 1 and it seeds very freely. 

 Its flowers are of a pale bluish-purple colour, spotted with dark 

 purple, and having a cut crest, which peculiarity induced its dis- 

 coverer, Dr Hance, to name it /. tomiolopha (see ' Jour. Bot./ 

 N.S., i. 229). 'This plant seeds freely, and may possibly be 

 much improved. Like the last, it will be invaluable to the 

 hybridiser. Mr Baker considers that Iris spectabilis (see ' Ann. 

 Sc. Nat.' vol. v. p. 93) is a hybrid between /. vulgar is and 

 /. latifolium. The same hybridist has raised a beautiful Iris 

 a hybrid between /. susiana and /. iberica with flowers as 

 large, as those of the former ; but the colour is intermediate, 

 and the plant bears seeds freely. A hybrid obtained by the 

 same grower between I. susiana and /. germanica bore dull 

 magenta-coloured flowers, and was quite destitute of anthers. 



Tigridia (Tiger Iris], A small group of very handsome 

 flowering bulbs, natives of Mexico, and represented in cultiva- 

 tion by T. pavonia (and its seminal forms, such as T. pavonia 

 Wheelerii, T. pavonia splendent, and others) and T. conchiflora, 

 which is little more than a native variety of T. pavonia, with 

 which it crosses freely as the male parent. T. aurantiaca is a 

 hybrid or cross-bred offspring, obtained by M. Goudet of Tou- 

 louse from seeds of T, conchiflora, which had been vivified with 

 pollen from T. pavonia. This hybrid bears fertile seeds, but very 

 rarely, most of the seeds being imperfect ; nevertheless some 

 have been found to vegetate and produce plants like the hybrid 

 in everyway (see 'Annales de Flore et Pomme,' 1839-40, p. 

 26). In 1840 another Continental horticulturist obtained two 

 beautiful new varieties viz., T. speciosa and T. intermedia; 

 and two other distinct forms, T. coccinea and T. Herbertii, are 

 also said to be hybrids. T. (Maricd) ccelestis is said by M. 

 Lecoq (see ' La Fecondation et de 1' Hybridation,' p. 375) to 

 bear an abundance of fertile seeds when fertilised with its own 



