A SIBERIAN PLANT 61 



season. The sturdy, sword-shaped, upright leaves are a 

 welcome addition to any border, set off as they usually are 

 by a graceful twist in their growth and topped by the large 

 clean-coloured flowers. 



Another large group of Irises that make good and showy 

 garden plants may be distinguished by the name of its best- 

 known member, /. sibirica. This is a European as well as 

 a Siberian plant, and in its best forms has hollow stems 

 3 feet or more in height, rising high above the narrow 

 leaves and bearing a lateral, as well as the terminal, head of 

 several flowers. The colour is usually blue, more or less 

 veined with white, though several almost white forms are 

 not uncommon. It is very easily raised from seed, and the 

 young plants, planted out early and well treated, should 

 flower a year later. The best forms can then be selected, 

 either for size, shape, or colour, or even floriferousness, 

 for individual plants certainly vary in their capacity for 

 throwing up a large number of flower spikes. The clumps 

 it is decided to keep should then be left alone, and if 

 the soil is rich and not too dry their beauty will increase 

 from year to year. The individual flowers are somewhat 

 small, but the effect of a number of plants of fine forms 

 of this Iris is very striking. 



A fine Eastern relative of /. sibirica is I. orientalis, 

 which is indeed probably a distinct species, if we may rely 

 upon the characters of the seeds and the capsule and on the 

 general habit of the plant. The flowers are of nearly the 

 same shape of those of /. sibirica, but larger, fewer in 

 number, and not raised much above the foliage. The 

 spathes are usually brightly tinged with red, though this is 

 a somewhat variable feature. Of this Iris there are forms 



