66 PRESENT-DAY GARDENING 



flowered. The only drawback is that the short stem is apt 

 to hide the flowers low down among the crowded foliage. 

 However, the individual flowers are remarkably pleasing, 

 and present a combination of purple-blue on the segments 

 and green on the style branches. The flowers are almost 

 identical with those of /. hexagona, although botanically the 

 structure is slightly different. Both produce their flowers 

 from the axils of the leaves, and this is also a characteristic 

 of /. fulva, which is unique in its terra-cotta colour and 

 curiously drooping outline. It is quite hardy, but not always 

 a free-flowering Iris. It rarely blooms before the end of 

 June, and Lamancei is usually in flower at the same time 

 with it. The result of a cross between the two is inter- 

 esting. /. fulva was the seed parent, and the tall, branching 

 habit of this plant is retained, but the hybrid has flowers of 

 the shape and substance of I. Lamancei, the pollen parent. 

 The colour of one form is a rich, velvety-red, indeed almost 

 crimson-purple, while others have retained more of the blue 

 colour of the pollen parent. 



All the members of this group seem to prosper in a rather 

 rich soil, and respond to moisture in the growing season by 

 more vigorous development. 



A little-known set of Irises comes from Syria, and 

 comprises /. Grant Duffii, I. Aschersonii, and /. masia. 

 An /. melanosticta has been introduced to commerce ; 

 but it is doubtful whether it is more than a colour variety 

 of /. Grant Duffii. This latter is an ill-natured Iris, and one 

 that is difficult to handle. In the first place, Sir Michael 

 Foster lavished all his arts upon it for five-and-twenty 

 years without once inducing it to flower, and the author 

 has had no better result with some of these identical plants. 



