THE ONCOCYCLUS IRISES 23 



CHAPTER VI 

 THE ONCOCYCLUS IRISES 



MOST gardeners with any enterprise have at some time or 

 other invested in a rhizome or two of the mystic Oncocyclus 

 Irises and as many at least in England have been 

 grievously disappointed with the result, if not immediately, 

 then certainly in the end. The truth is that these inhabit- 

 ants of Syria and Persia are homesick for the baking sun 

 of their native haunts, and never consent to stay long with 

 us. Even if they flower, they seem to cry out as did the 

 Roman gladiators, " Morituri te salutant" (The doomed 

 salute thee), and few escape their doom. However, they 

 count among their number the largest flowered of all Irises, 

 Gatesii, whose standards and falls are five inches and more 

 across, and the most beautiful of all, Lortetii, which is deli- 

 cately veined and minutely dotted with purple and crimson 

 on a creamy ground. The circular standards incline 

 slightly inwards so as to meet, and the falls reflex to show 

 their broad beards and curl so far back as to touch the 

 stem. Indeed, the whole flower seems to hug itself with 

 delight in its own beauty. 



What would we not give to have /. iberica flowering as 

 freely with us as does /. pumila ? And yet in its native 

 haunts in the Caucasus, and even in gardens in that region, it 

 is every bit as floriferous. A photograph of a long edging of 

 these Irises with their white standards and curious, hanging 

 concave falls puts one out of conceit with the few scattered 



