IRIS FAMILY 



gardener calls these the falls. The three inner or petaloid seg- 

 ments rise each on a claw, broaden, and overarch. These are 

 the standards. 



Looking directly into the flower the observer fails at first to 

 discover either pistil or stamens; certainly the accustomed yellow 

 heart is wanting. But pistil and stamens are both present, though 

 one has taken an unusual form and the other is well hidden. 

 The heart of the blossom which looks like three additional petals 

 is the enlarged and glorified style, divided into three arms which 

 separate and curve outward. The stigmatic surface is so small 

 and so hidden that one rarely sees or knows that it is there. It is 

 a thin edge under the divided crest and can be detected by its 

 slightly shining surface or by the pollen which may chance to 

 adhere to it. From the base of each of the outer perianth seg- 

 ments rises a stamen with short filament and large anther, usually 

 of the same color as the blossom, and closely pressed against the 

 overarching arm of the style. The pollen cells open outward. 



This flower structure is admirably adapted for cross-fertiliza- 

 tion by bees. In the first place, abundant nectar is poured forth 

 from the inner surface of the lower part of the flower and the feast 

 is made ready. The bee seeking the honey presses in below the 

 arch of the style-arm, and must necessarily sweep off on her back 

 some of the pollen from the anther, which is placed in exactly the 

 right position for this result. The same bee upon entering an- 

 other flower must necessarily leave some pollen on the stigmatic 

 edge, which is placed so as to be most sure of sweeping it off. The 

 arrangement is remarkably perfect and one expects the result 

 which follows— all the Irises seed abundantly. 



The German Irises of the catalogues are purely garden flowers 

 —varieties, hybrids, sports— into whose composition have gone the 

 strains of a score of primitives. Probably in the beginning Iris 

 germanica was the basic plant, but it would be a wise Iris that 

 could now recognize her own children. Yet, since the gardener's 

 ideal has been solely color and size, the structure of the flower has 

 not been broken down nor the form of the leaf interfered with. 

 Owing to the great diversity of origin the varieties have great 



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