IRIS 



THE BULB BOOK 



IRIS 



the banks of the river Sar in CUicia. 

 The typical plant, which has bright 

 lUac flowers, does not appear to be 

 in cultivation, but is represented 

 by the variety Iwrida, which has 

 narrow sword-shaped falcate leaves 

 about 6 ins. long. The flowers 

 appear in May, and resemble those 

 of /. Sudama, but are somewhat 

 smaller, and of a soft violet-purple 

 with deeper spots and veins, the 

 falls being darker in colour than the 

 - roundish standards, and having a 

 diflfuse brownish-black beard. (Bot. 

 Mag. t. 6960.) 



The variety Nazarence from Pales- 

 tine has the falls heavily veined with 

 rows of brownish-purple spots on a 

 pale or straw-yellow ground, and a 

 large maroon blotch in the centre, 

 while the standards are creamy- 

 white beautifully veined with blue. 



I. serotina. — A native of the cal- 

 careous mountains near Jaen, in 

 Spain. It resembles the Spanish Iris 

 (/. Xiphiumi), but differs in its 

 very late flowering in August or Sep- 

 tember, and in being less vigorous, 

 with the upper leaves very thin and 

 awl-like, in having reddish spathe- 

 valves, and especially in the fall hav- 

 ing an oblong-lanceolate blade and 

 a narrow linear claw. 



I. setosa (/. brachycuspis). — A hand- 

 some Iris, native of Eastern Siberia. 

 Japan, and North America, somewhat 

 resembling /. sibirica. The thin 

 leaves are 1 to Ij ft. long, and the 

 large bright lilac flowers are produced 

 in May and June, on stoutish branched 

 stems 2 to 3 ft. high. (Bot. Beg. 1847, 

 t. 10; Bot. Mag. t. 2326.) The 

 variety atro-caeridea has darker blue 

 flowers than the type. 



I. sibirica. — A beautiful beardless 

 Iris, native of Central and South 

 Europe to Siberia, with linear ribbed 

 leaves 1 to 2 ft. long. Flowers in May 

 and June, borne on hollow stems 1 to 



2^ ft. high, bright lilac-blue, the falls 

 being veined with deep violet on a 

 paler ground. {Bot. Mag. tt. 50, 

 1163, 1604.) There are many beauti- 

 ful garden forms including double- 

 flowered ones, the white one, alba, 

 being one of the most distinct, having 



312 



Pig. 211. — Iris sibirica. 



white flowers mottled with purple. 

 Orientalis differs from the type by 

 the redness of its young leaves, 

 shorter flower-stems, and deeper 

 coloured but less lasting flowers. 



I. Sieheana. — This is closely related 

 to /. persica purpurea, differing 

 chiefly in having the wings of the 

 fall more blunt, and the lip less 

 rounded. The flowers vary from 

 silver-grey to pale reddish-purple 

 blotched with white and yellow and 

 spotted with deep brown. (Gard. 

 Chron. 1904, xxxv. 282.) 



I. sindjarensis. — ^An interesting 

 bulbous Iris, native of Mesopotamia, 

 having very large elongafed bulbs. 

 Leaves long and narrowing gradually 



