112 Tall Bearded Iris 



Crossing the tall bearded Irises and the earlier 

 (March-April) blooming dwarf Irises, has resulted in 

 an intermediate race of medium height. No complete 

 record of the crosses seems to have been kept, but, 

 judging from the foliage (the length of time it remains 

 in good condition) it is probable that the dwarf cham- 

 seiris, from southern France or northern Italy, and 

 germanica are among the parents of this new race 

 which is now generally called^ — 



I. interregna or I. intermediate (blooming between 

 the early dwarf and later tall species). — Flowers 

 large, some unusually so, of various colors; free 

 and early (May) flowering. 



A knowledge of the species to which any particular 

 variety belongs, and of the locality in which such 

 species is supposed to have had its origin, is -often 

 helpful to a person comtemplating purchase. Different 

 plantsmen sometimes give the same name to different 

 varieties, and a purchaser may easily be misled there- 

 by if he does not know the species to which each of 

 such varieties belongs, as frequently only the color of 

 the flower is described, and that only in a general 

 way, and occasionally almost the same description 

 is given of flowers of different varieties — mistakes of 

 this kind will of course be less likely to occur as the 

 "Check List" of the American Iris Society comes 

 into general use. Moreover, some species not only 

 bloom earlier than some others but the foliage of 

 some species remains green for a much longer period 

 than that of some others, a matter that will be referred 

 to further on under Foliage and under What to Plant. 



