IBIS 



THE BULB BOOK 



IRIS 



clus Iris from Palestine. It lias weak 

 pale green or slightly glaucous leaves 

 about a foot long. The large solitary- 

 flowers are of a deep violet-purple 

 colour. The wedge-shaped falls are 

 about 3 ins. long, Ij ins. broad, and 

 of a deep almost blackish velvety- 

 purple, bearded at the base with 

 brownish black and yellow hairs. 

 The roundish standards are much 

 larger, and of a deep violet-purple 

 distinctly veined with radiating lines 

 and dots of a deeper colour. 



I. atropurpurea, — ^A Syrian species 

 related to /. ihenca. Flowers with 



Fig. 193. — Iris atropurpurea. (J.) 



narrow ovate falls blotched and 

 bearded with yellow at the base and 

 tipped with dark purple or black ; 

 standards larger and roundish, deep 

 black-purple, with veins of a deeper 

 colour. Style reddish purple-brown 

 with smallish quadrate crest. There 

 is an improved Italian form called 



"Odysseus." {111. Hort. t. 1889; 

 Gartenfl. t. 136.) 



I. atroviolaoea. — This is probably a 

 hybrid between /. GhamcBiris and /. 

 pallida. It has sword-shaped, very 

 glaucous leaves about 1 ft. long and 

 1 inch broad. The large dark violet 

 flowers are very fragrant and gener- 

 ally appear about May, the falls 

 having a white beard tipped with 

 yellow. 



I. aurea. — A handsome beardless 

 Himalayan Iris, 3 to 4 ft. high, with 

 stout stems and sword-like leaves 

 about 2 ft. long. Flowers in June, 

 bright golden-yellow; falls oblong, 

 crisped at the edges; standards ob- 

 lanceolate, shorter than the falls. 

 {Bot. Reg. t. 59; Garden, 1887, t. 

 579.) The variety intermedia re- 

 sembles the type in colour, but has 

 the narrow standards of /. orientalis. 



I. Bakeriana. — ^A pretty Armenian 



296 



Fig. 194. — Iris Bake' iana. (J.) 



Iris with ovoid bulbs and cylindrical, 

 eight - ribbed, horny - pointed leaves 



