January 25, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



43 



(Sophronitis x C. Loddigesii) are two beautiful hybrids. 

 Breeders might do worse than make this same cross for the 

 sake of the plants it yields, as we shall have to wait a long 

 while before Messrs. Veitch will have a stock of Sophro- 

 cattleyas to dispose of at, say, a guinea apiece. 



Zygopetalum leucochilum (Z. Burkei x Z. Mackayi), a 

 sturdy plant, remarkable for its large white labellum, is 

 another Veitchian production of some merit. This list will 

 be continued next week. 

 London. W. Waison. 



Cultural Department. 



Irises and their Cultivation. — VI. 



T RIS PSEUDACORUS and I. foetidissima, the British Gladwin, 

 *■ are Flags, appreciated in wild gardens. The yellow flowers 

 of the former are not very pure in color, but in suitable damp 



Iris Siberica and its varieties have long been favorite garden- 

 plants, growing with extreme vigor in an ordinary garden-bor- 

 der, not too dry, which place they prefer to a wet one. The 

 type has purple flowers, veined white, very freely produced, 

 and the foliage is narrow, rigid and abundant, about two feet 

 long. Variety flexulosus has white flowers with crisped petals. 

 Variety haematophylla has purple flowers, and the young leaves 

 are tinged with red. This is a synonym of variety Orientalis, 

 but the plant grown here with the latter name is a variety hav- 

 ing very dark purple, almost blue, flowers, and leaves of the 

 normal type. 



Iris Orientalis (species) is that known in gardens as I. ochro- 

 leuca, or I. gigantea. It is a remarkably tall-growing and beau- 

 tiful-flowered kind with stout rhizomes. The flowers are 

 white, flushed with yellow on the falls. This is one of the best 

 of the tall kinds. Others of this class worthy of cultivation are 

 I. monnieri and I. aurea, both with yellow flowers of pure color 

 and seemingly not particular as to location. This trio of tall- 



Fig. 8. — Lake Yumoto, Japan, with Hemlock Forests.— See page 38. 



places the plants are effective. The flowers of the latter va- 

 riety are dull, but are succeeded by well-filled pods which show 

 rows of red seed as they burst, when they are striking objects. 

 The milk-white Iris of Florence (I. Florentina), besides being 

 a plant of remarkable beauty, has the distinction of being the 

 only member of the large family which has any important 

 commercial value. The dried and cleaned rhizomes of this 

 Iris are an important article of commerce under the name of 

 Orris-root. In the form of powder it is used as a dentifrice 

 and for sachets. Oils are both expressed and distilled from 

 the roots, which, with alcoholic tinctures of the same, are 

 largely used in the manufacture of perfumery and soaps. Its 

 special value being to simulate or strengthen the more expen- 

 sive perfume of violets, the essence of violets without some 

 admixture of orris or cassie (Acacia Farnesiana) is a rather rare 

 article. This Iris prefers moist spots. 



growing kinds have rather long narrow falls and inconspicuous 

 standards, and hence have a grace of their own quite distinct 

 from that of the Japanese kinds. The two latter kinds have 

 not proved very free of flower in my borders. There are a 

 number of other rhizomatous kinds in the same borders which 

 are possibly as effective, but they have not spoken to me as 

 yet, or I have failed to catch their special characteristics. The 

 flowers of the Iris do not quite round the entire year, but there 

 are several winter Flags which will prove interesting at that sea- 

 son. I. fimbriata (I. Chinensis or I. Japonica) is the well-known 

 evergreen-leaved greenhouse-plant with lilac flowers, crimped 

 on the edges of the falls, and borne in racemes on graceful stems. 

 This thrives well in ordinary greenhouse temperature potted 

 in a small amount of sandy loam, with abundant drainage. 

 The flowers are fugitive, however. I. alata (I. scorpioides) is 

 an Algerian bulbous species, also much grown in green- 



