56 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



The seeds, too, of all the members of this group closely 

 resemble one another. Of these, 7. graminea has been in 

 cultivation in England for at least two centuries and 

 probably longer. Its home is in Southern Europe, and 

 it owes its name to its close-growing tufts of grass-like 

 leaves, among which the numerous flowers are almost 

 hidden. It is not a very ornamental Iris, but those who 

 like sweet-scented flowers will value this species more 

 than most others, for its perfume is that of a ripe greengage. 

 It is true that among seedlings some specimens are much 

 more strongly scented than others, but a little care in 

 selection will soon eliminate the worthless plants. 



Very similar to 7. graminea, but smaller, is 7. hutnilis, 

 which is distinguished for its habit of sulking and refusing 

 to flower. Probably we gardeners are to blame and not the 

 plant, but the fact remains that even the ingenuity of the 

 Dutchmen has not yet succeeded in making this plant 

 flower. Herbarium specimens show that it flowers well in 

 its home in Transylvania and in the Caucasus, and that it 

 differs from 7. graminea by having scarcely any stem at all 

 and an inch or two of perianth tube. In cultivation the 

 author had never seen flowers of this Iris until one of his 

 plants flowered in 1911. 



We come next to I. spuria, the various forms of which 

 are perhaps more perplexing than those of any other 

 species. Its representatives range from Spain to Kashmir, 

 and the names that botanists have given to the various 

 local forms are legion. In Spain it is a slender plant 

 with somewhat thick and rigid, rather glaucous, narrow 

 leaves, and has a stem about a foot in height producing 

 a single head of two or three flowers, packed one above 



