1 HE IRIS. 



IN botany this is the generic name of 

 a number of beautiful plants belong- 

 ing to the natural order of Iridacece. 

 The plants have a creeping root- 

 stock, or else a flat tuber, equitant leaves, 

 irregular flowers, and three stamens. 

 They are represented equally in the tem- 

 perate and hotter regions of the globe. 

 The wild species of iris are generally 

 called blue-flag and the cultivated 

 flower-de-luce, from the French Heur de 

 Louis, it having been the device of Louis 

 VII, o-f France. Our commonest blue- 

 flag, iris versicolor, is a widely distrib- 

 uted plant, its violet-blue flowers, as may 

 be seen upon stems one to three feet high, 

 being conspicuous in wet places in early 

 summer. The root of this possesses 

 cathartic and diruretic properties, and is 

 used by some medical practitioners. 

 The slender blue-flag found in similar 

 localities near the Atlantic coast, is 

 smaller in all its parts. A yellowish or 

 reddish-brown species, resembling the 

 first named in appearance, is found in 

 Illinois and southward. There are three 

 native species which grow only about six 

 inches high and have blue flowers. They 

 are found in Virginia and southward, 

 and on the shores of the great lakes ; 

 these are sometimes seen as garden 

 plants. The orris root of commerce is 

 the product of Iris Florentina, I. pallida^ 



and /. Germanica, which grow wild in 

 the south of Europe ; the rhizomes are 

 pared and dried, and exported from 

 Trieste and Leghorn, chiefly for the use 

 of perfumers ; they have the odor of vio- 

 lets. The garden species of iris are 

 numerous, nd by crossing have pro- 

 duced a great many known only by gar- 

 den names. The dwarf iris, /. pumila, 

 from three to six inches high, flowers 

 very early and makes good edgings to 

 borders ; the common flower-de-luce of 

 the gardens is /. Germanic a; the elder- 

 scented flower-de-luce is /. sambucina. 

 These and many others are- hardy in our 

 climate, and readily multiplied by divi- 

 sion of their rootstocks. The mourning 

 or crape iris is one of the finest of the 

 genus, its flowers being very large, dot- 

 ted and striped with purple on a gray 

 ground. The flowers of most of the 

 species are beautiful. Some of them 

 have received much attention from flor- 

 ists, particularly the Spanish, English, 

 and German, or common iris, all corn- 

 rooted species and all European. The 

 Persian iris is delightfully fragrant. 

 The roots of all these species are an- 

 nually exported in considerable quanti- 

 ties from Holland. The roasted seeds 

 of one species have been used as a sub- 

 stitute for coffee. 



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