VARIETIES OF I. PERSICA 19 



its best has flowers of white and sea-green, with a brown- 

 purple patch on the blade of the falls. It has been in culti- 

 vation in England for some centuries, but is apparently 

 becoming rarer owing to the fact that it is not a strong 

 grower. 



In light, sandy soil it is most disappointing, but would 

 probably do better in heavy loam. Even then it would 

 need to be kept dry and well ripened in summer. The 

 chief difficulty with regard to it probably lies in the fact 

 that the trade supplies are grown in heavy soil and lose all 

 their roots when torn up for sale. The result is that newly 

 purchased bulbs are weakly, and often exhaust themselves 

 by attempting to flower in their first season. This should 

 be discouraged by removing the bud, if it is hoped to 

 establish the plant. It will then probably form a stronger 

 bulb for the following year, together with an offset 

 or two. 



Besides the type there are at least two varieties which 

 are well worth growing and which appear to have better 

 constitutions, namely, /. Tauri from the Cilician Taurus 

 and 7. Heldreichii (or stenophylla) from a somewhat lower 

 elevation in the same neighbourhood. 7. Tauri has rather 

 small but brilliant flowers of deep purple lined with gold, 

 while those of 7. Heldreichii are a combination of blue- 

 black blotches on a grey-blue ground. 



Besides these there are other colour forms of 7. persica 

 that are much more rarely seen in cultivation. A variety, 

 purpurea, is wholly of a warm claret-purple colour. One 

 called galatica, from the region in which it is found, has 

 flowers of pale, dingy yellow, tipped with brown-purple, 

 and another with large flowers of silver-grey flushed and 



