THE SMALLEST EVANSIA 33 



/. tectonnn. They are curiously mottled with two shades 

 of pale and deep red-purple, and the characteristic crest 

 of the group is conspicuous. The gardener's obvious 

 course is to hybridise /. Milesii with pollen of /. tectorum, 

 and this is perhaps one of the few cases where a hybrid 

 Iris would be better than the parent. But 7. Milesii has 

 some deep-rooted objection to being hybridised, and in 

 spite of the many attempts that have been made no hybrid 

 of this species is yet known. With its own pollen it is, on 

 the other hand, readily fertile, and it sets seed in abundance. 

 There is in commerce a form called magnifica, but any plant 

 worthy of this name is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain. 



Having mentioned the largest of the Evansia, we will 

 take next the smallest, 7. gracilipes, another Japanese plant. 

 It likes a somewhat cool position in moist soil, where its 

 slender rhizomes will not be parched by drought. It has 

 narrow, grassy leaves 9 inches or a foot in height, and 

 a slender, branching stem of about the same height, and 

 three heads of flowers. The latter agree in shape with 

 those of 7. tectorum, and are of a delicate pale pinkish-lilac 

 colour. This graceful little plant deserves to be far more 

 widely cultivated than it appears to be. That it is little 

 known is perhaps due to the fact that it is not always quite 

 easy to establish. This is, however, hardly a matter of 

 astonishment, for such a frail little rhizome can scarcely 

 be expected to resist the effects of alternate frost and thaw 

 unless it is firmly anchored in the ground. It is therefore 

 inadvisable to shift this plant when growth has finished for 

 the season. It should rather be moved when growth is 

 active. 



Of the southernmost representative of the Iris family 



C 



