March 21, 1888.] 



Garden and Forest. 



43 



more of natural beauty and melody and fragrance than a coun- 

 try roadside against which the hand of improvement has not 

 been lifted. 



Iris bracteata. 



A MONG the peculiar species of the genus Iris which are 

 -^~*- found upon the Pacific slope of North America, the one 

 here figured is one of the more notable and interesting. From 

 near the extremity of its slender rootstock it sends up a flower- 

 ing stem which is covered by loose sheathing and overlapping 

 bracts, purplish, and scarcely differing from the bracts which 

 subtend the flowers. The flowers are usually large, either 

 nearly pure yellow or the recurved sepals (or "'falls'," as they 

 are sometimes called), veined with bluish purple. The tube 

 of the flower is very short and funnel-shaped, and the sepals, 

 as in all Western species, are without beard or crest. The 

 petals are narrow and erect, and the narrow styles are much 

 prolonged beyond the antliers. The leaves that arise from the 

 rootstock are solitary, at first sheathed at base by several thin, 

 equitant bracts which appear to soon dry and wither. The 

 leaf itself is linear and taller than the stem, thick and leathery, 

 and persistent to the second or third year. When dry, the 

 margins become revolute as a consequence of a dissimi'laritv 

 in the two surfaces. The ordinary equitant leaf of Iris is as if 

 it were folded longitudinally upon itself, so that the two sur- 

 faces are identical in character. Here, while one side is 

 smooth, close and bright green, as usual, the other is lighter 

 colored, with a very thin cuticle crowded with stomata, mak- 

 ing it, of course, much more hygrometric. 



This species was found by Mr. Thomas Howell, of Arthur, 

 Oregon, in 1884, in the mountains of Josephine County, very 

 near the southern boundary of that State, flowering in the lat- 

 ter part of April and in iVIay. In 1887 he again visited the 

 locality and secured roots, from which it is hoped that the 

 plant may be introduced into cultivation. In its characters it 

 is most nearly allied to /. Douglasiana, which is common in 

 the Coast Ranges of California from Del Norte to Alameda 

 County. That species is much more leafy, and the usually 

 pale lilac flowers have a much longer and narrower perianth- 

 tube. The accompanying figure is from a drawing by Mr. C. 

 E. Fa.xon. 5. IV. 



Fig. 8. — Iris bracteata. 



Sweet Peas. 



OUT of thirty-one named varieties of Sweet Peas, planted 

 for trial last year, I found but nineteen really distinct 

 kinds. Cardinal was practically identical with Invincible Scar- 

 let ; so was Princess Louise, with The Queen ; Queen of the 

 Isles, with Invincible Red Striped ; Violet Queen and Grand 

 Blue, with Light Blue and Purple ; Purple Striped, with Black 

 and White ; Captain Clark and Lotty Eckford, with Blue Edged. 



Princess Beatrice is one of the most beautififl, with large, 

 clear rose-pink flowers. Miss Ethel and Isa Eckford are nearly 

 identical with it, but somewhat inferior. Adonis is similar, 

 but darker, a deep carmine-pink. The Queen has a standard 

 of deep rose, tinged with purple, and darker wings — a finelv- 

 formed flower, a trifle dull in color. Vesuvius is quite distinct, 

 with standard of rosy-crimson, lighter at the edges, spotted antl 

 veined toward the centre with darker color, and wings of rosy 

 purple, spotted like the standard. 



Of scarlets. Invincible Carmine is the best, being an improve 

 ment on Invincible Scarlet, with broad standards, the rich color 

 deepened in the wings and heavily shading the keel. Duchess 

 of Edinburgh is similar, but with standard of lighter color and 

 a white keel. Scarlet Striped has a white ground shaded and 

 striped with scarlet, while Invincible Red Striped has scarlet 

 ground, striped and blotched with white. 



No pink and white variety is as good as Painted Lady, though 

 Crown Princess of Prussia is beautiful, but of lighter color. 

 Captain Clark has a white standard shaded with rose and 

 veined with dark lines, and white Avings tinged with rose and 

 edged with purple. Fairy Queen is nearly pure white, with a 

 few delicate, crimson veins in the centre of the standard. But- 

 terfly is white, faintly edged and shaded with blue. 



Among the blues. Bronze Prince is an improvement on In- 

 digo King, having better formed standards, the purplish crim- 

 son distinctly tinged with bronze. Violet Queen shows a 



*I. BRACTEATA, Watsoii, Pioc. A}iur. Acad., .x-f. 37s. Roolstocli slender; le.ive3 

 solitarv. rit»:id, mucli exceeding the stem (one or two feet long by half an inch 

 broad or less), striate, one side green and the other glancous, revolute on drying ; 

 stem angled, covered with imbricated sheathing bracts two to four inches long; 

 bracts of the spathe approximate, thin-foliaceous, two or three inches long, two- 

 flowered ; perianth-tube short, funr-.el-form ; sepals oblong-oblanceolate, two or 

 three inches long, recurved, yellow, usually veined with bUiish nurple ; petals 

 erect, oblanceolate, somewhat shorter; anthers longer than the filaments; styles 

 long-crested ; capsules exscrted, ovate-oblong, an inch long. 



