IRIS TENAX 55 



It is not yet certain whether these species are liable to 

 give colour variations when raised from self-fertilised seed, 

 but /. bracteata has already produced some delightful and 

 very free-flowering forms with soft-pink flowers. The seed 

 parent grew near /. Douglasiana, and it is possible that some 

 passing bee transferred the pollen of this latter to the flower 

 of 7. bracteata. 



These Calif ornian species seem to run in pairs, for yet 

 another consists of 7. tenax and 7. Hartwegil. These are 

 both of slender growth, producing close tufts of narrow 

 leaves and' stems from 6 inches to i foot in length, each 

 bearing about three flowers. Botanically, there is really 

 very little difference between the two. The flowers of 7. 

 tenax are somewhat larger and the segments of a different 

 shape. As a garden plant 7. tenax is by far the more valuable. 

 It ranges in colour from a deep claret colour, with a net- 

 work of silvery veins on the bend of the falls, through 

 lilac and pale lavender to a soft pale grey. The foliage, 

 too, is largely evergreen, and the leaves are of some length 

 even in the depth of winter. 7. Hartwegii, on the other 

 hand, has shown no sign of colour variation, being always 

 of a pale straw shade, and is altogether a somewhat in- 

 significant little species. 



All the Californian Irises delight in a well-drained soil 

 rich in humus, and should have full sun. They seem to 

 abhor lime and clay. 



We must now return to the Old World, to a widely 

 distributed group of plants that are characterised by flowers 

 of the same shape as those of 7. xiphium (the Spanish Iris), 

 and by the formation of the ovary, which is more or less 

 three-sided, with a double ridge running down each corner. 



