48 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



entirely. The new growths are therefore later in making 

 their appearance, and pass unharmed through the vicis- 

 situdes of our spring. The standards of /. junonia are of a 

 pale blue, contrasting sharply with the much deeper 

 purple-blue falls, which spread rather than droop. 



CHAPTER X 



THE APOGON IRISES 



THE great division of Apogon or beardless Irises contains 

 many natural groups of species that agree in the possession 

 of several characteristics, either in habit of growth, in the 

 shape of the seeds, or in the arrangement of the inflor- 

 escence. It also contains a number of species that hardly 

 seem to form part of any group, but stand by themselves, 

 having in common only the absence of beard. Moreover, 

 this absence of beard is only relative, for many of the 

 so-called Apogon Irises are distinctly downy or pubescent 

 along the haft and on the centre of the blade. Indeed, the 

 Austrian form of /. spuria was called by one botanist /. 

 subbarbata, the slightly bearded Iris, on account of the 

 presence of this pubescence, which, however, is not in any 

 case so prominent as to lead us to confuse its possessor 

 with the members of the bearded group. 



It will be convenient, perhaps, to take together those 

 members of the division which form natural groups, follow- 

 ing roughly the order of their flowering seasons rather than 

 any alphabetical arrangement. The first group must then 



