516 THE IBIS FAMILY. 



The Ixias, Tigridias, and many others of the smaller South African bulbs, 

 formerly much more cultivated than they now are, belong to the Iris 

 family. 



I. IRIS. IRIS. 



Eootstock thick and horizontal, or rarely bulbous. Leaves equitant. 

 Flowers large and showy ; the 3 outer perianth- segments large, spreading 

 or reflexed ; the 3 iimer ones much smaller, and erect. Stigmas 3, enlarged, 

 each with a petal-like appendage, which arches over the corresponding 

 stamen and outer segm jnt of the perianth. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the northern hemisphere. 



Flowers bright yellow. Inner perianth-segments scarcely as long as the 



claw of the outer ones 1. Yellow I. 



Flowers violet-blue or yellowish-white. Inner segments two-thirds as 



long as the outer ones 2. Fetid I. 



Several continental Eivropean species are frequent in our flower-gardens, 

 and occasionally escape into neighbouring waste places, especially the large- 

 flowered I. susiana and I. germanica, the dwarf I. pumila, the bulbous- 

 rooted /. Xiphium and I. xiphioides, the /. tuberosa, etc. 



1. Yellowr Iris. Iris Fseudacoras, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 578. Yellow Flag.) 



Eootstock thick, horizontal, with numerous fibres. Stem about 2 feet 

 high. Lower leaves often much longer, and 1 or 2 inches broad, stiff and 

 erect, of a pale glaucous-green ; the upper ones much shorter. Flowers 

 2 or 3, each proceeding from a sheathing bract, large, erect, of a bright yel- 

 low. Outer perianth-segments spreading, broadly ovate, full 2 inches long, 

 contracted at the base into an erect, broad claw ; inner segments oblong and 

 erect, scarcely longer than the claws of the others. Petal-hke stigmas rather 

 longer than the inner segments, 2-oleft at the top, with a short, scale-like 

 appendage inside at the base of the lobes. Capsule green, 2 to 3 inches long, 

 with numerous pale-brown seeds. 



In wet meadows, and marshes, and along watercourses tliroughout Eu- 

 rope and Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Abundant in Britain. 

 Fl. summer. 



2. Fetid Iris. Iris fcetidissiiua, Linn. 

 (Eng Bot. t. 596. Gladdon. Eoastleef -plant.) 



Not so large a plant as the yellow I., the leaves narrower, one or two ] 

 only overtopping the stem, and the whole plant of a deeper green, smelling I 

 disagreeably when bruised. Flowers rather smaller, several together, of a I 

 violet-blue or rarely pale-yellowish white. Outer perianth -segments nar- 

 row-ovate, the inner ones reaching to about two-thirds their length. Petal- 

 like stigmas scarcely so long. Seeds bright orange or scarlet. 



In woods and shady places, in southern Europe, extending eastward to i 

 the Caucasus, and northward all over western France, but scarcely into 

 eastern France or Germany. Abundant in many parts of southern Eng- 

 land and Ireland, scarce or local in the north, and only a doubtful native j 

 of Scotland. Fl. summer, commencing early. 



