IRISES AND TENDER BULBS 233 



nent among those which, are to be recom- 

 mended for the average amateur is Iris 

 Florentina, the orris-root of commerce, de- 

 servedly popular, and for over one hundred 

 years a familiar flower in the old-fashioned 

 New England gardens. It is free-blooming, 

 producing flowers of pearly whiteness, deli- 

 ciously fragrant, delicate and effective. Iris 

 pallida, whose blood flows through the veins of 

 all the better hybrid German irises, is a plant 

 with broad leaves and sword-like foliage which 

 often attains a height of two and a half feet, the 

 blades measuring an inch and a half across. 

 It bears its flowers on long stems, raising them 

 high above the foliage, and the result is most 

 effective. Then there is Iris Pseudacorus, 

 Jacob's sword, as it is sometimes called, which 

 possesses ample green foliage and forms quickly 

 a vigorous clump. It bears flowers of a rich 

 golden yellow color, and produces them in pro- 

 fusion. 



The much-admired Siberian iris (/. Sibirica), 

 has a number of forms of which the most com- 

 mon type is a tall-growing variety, attaining a 

 height of two and a half or three feet, and bear- 

 ing many flower stems, which are topped with 

 blooms of a dark blue color marked with white 



