

The Iris, 



This flower belongs to the class Triandria, order Monogynia. 

 Its generic characters are : — corolla six-petalled, unequal ; petals 

 alternate, jointed and spreading ; stigma petal-form, cowled, two- 

 lipped. 



Iris on saffron wings arrayed with dew, 



Of various colors through the sunbeams flew. 



Virgil. 



Then clad in colors of a various dye, 

 Junonian Iris breeds a new supply. 



Ovid. 



The ancients named this plant after the attendant of Juno, 

 because its colors are the same as those which the poets and 

 mythological writers have bestowed on the messenger of their 

 goddess. Iris is generally depicted as descending from the rain- 

 bow, and her arch is said not to vary more in its colors than this 

 flower that has been honored by her name. Columella observes 

 in his tenth book : 



Nor Iris with her glorious rainbow clothed, 



So fulgent as the cheerful garde/is shine, 



With their bright offspring when they're in their bloom. 



Milton distinguishes these flowers as Iris all hues. Every 

 •quarter of the world possesses the Iris, and excepting the Rose, 

 no flowers have been more celebrated by the historian and 

 the poet than those of this genus, which so greatly embellishes 

 both the land and the waters, and has at various periods contri- 

 buted much to the sustenance, and added to the medicines of 

 man. Bildad, in his remonstrance with Job, uses this plant as a 

 simile, which has been versified by Sandys : 



Can Bulrushes but by the river grow 1 



Can Flags there flourish where no waters flow 1 



The ancients used it, says Phillips, as the symbol of Elo- 

 Q 



