THE MEDITERRANEAN IRISES 



S. STILLMAN BERRY 



Suggesting a New Popular Name Descriptive of 

 a Group of Winter-flowering Beardless Irises that 

 Brighten the California Garden with Continuous 

 Bloom During Two Thirds of the Year, but Pre- 

 sent an Elusive Cultural Problem in the East 



HERE the climatic conditions are sufficiently benign 

 (as with us on the Pacific Coast) one of the most de- 

 lightful features of the midwinter garden is a clump or 

 border of some of the Beardless Irises belonging to 

 the group of Iris unguicularis, a North African species (fre- 

 quently noticed in the trade literature, however, contrary to all 

 weight of authority, under the name I. stylosa). 



The group includes a considerable number of species or races, 

 which, though reasonably diverse, still possess so much in com- 

 mon, including the peculiarity of being practically stemless 

 except for the greatly elongated perianth tube, that even the 

 casual observer rarely hesitates to class them with one another 

 and apart from other Irises. As they appear to possess, never- 

 theless, neither a common name in English nor a name in com- 

 mon, I v/ould suggest the term "Mediterranean Irises" as a 

 convenient and not inappropriate one for the group. For it is 

 chiefly in the countries neighboring upon the Mediterranean 

 Sea that the various species are endemic, and it is of this general 

 region that the group as a whole seems most characteristic. 

 Since we are already afflicted with "German" Irises which are 

 not in any sense German, and "English" Irises which are Eng- 

 lish only by adoption, it may be something of a relief to have a 

 name proposed which is not entirely misleading in its geograph- 

 ical implications. 



Perhaps the Iris of this group most commonly found in our 

 gardens is the dainty, but somewhat variable, unguicularis, the 

 type form of which is said to be a native of Algeria. This is 

 recorded as a favorite garden Iris in Italy; and more especially 

 in the south of France; or sometimes, in sheltered situations, 

 as far north as England. In this country it is not so well known. 

 Even here in California, despite the fact that it has received 

 extensive publicity the last few years from Mrs. Dean — whose 

 encomiums, I may add, are in no way exaggerated — it is still all 

 too rarely seen. It does not seem too much to say that, all 

 things considered, it fills such a niche of its own that no garden 

 in any fairly mild region should be without it any more than 

 it should be without the ubiquitous but always treasured Vio- 

 lets and Roses. 



Severe temperature changes it probably could not stand, 

 though far from tropical in its requirements. All through the 

 exceptional snowfall experienced here in Redlands, California, 

 on Thanksgiving Day, 1919, a long border of one of the mar- 

 ginata forms of unguicularis continued to push up its fresh, 

 spring-suggestive blooms with scarcely perceptible slackening, 

 while the sharpest frosts seem likewise to injure it little and 

 ordinary ones not at all, though the leaves now and then are 

 frozen to a crisp. 



Nor have I found it particularly fussy as to soil. My soil 

 is a naturally heavy red adobe which, if not kept constantly 

 subdued, tends to bake hard in the summer heat. Neverthe- 

 less, little difference has been observable in the growth of this 

 Iris, whether planted in the natural clay unalloyed, or in beds 

 artificially lightened by the customary admixture of sand, lime, 

 and humus. Even the application of animal manures, so fre- 

 quently fatal to plants of this type, seems only to increase the 

 luxuriance of its growth, as the planting this season of a richly 

 fertilized Pansy bed in immediate proximity to the aforemen- 

 tioned border has well demonstrated. Of course, plenty of 



261 



' THE SHORT-STEMMED MEDITERRANEANS SEEM SPECIALLY 

 MADE FOR INDOOR USE 



Arrangement by Miss M. Louise Arnold; 

 photograph by William N. Kline, Jr. 



water is desirable during the season of most active growth, but 

 as in most parts of California it coincides with the rainy season 

 anyway, usually little or no attention is required at this time. 



It has sometimes been said that a thorough summer baking is 

 a requisite in the culture of Iris unguicularis, but this I have not 

 found to be necessarily the case. So far as my experience goes, 

 reasonably good drainage rather than actual dryness seems to 

 be the true desideratum. I have had clumps of this Iris in 

 the same beds with plants which required watering all summer 

 without any evident ill result to the former. 



Another valuable feature of this Iris is the willing way in 

 which it will take hold and make a brave showing in almost 

 any exposure. Full sun is no doubt best, and will be rewarded 

 by the most abundant display of bloom, but partial shade gives 

 fair enough results. I have not experimented with it in com- 

 plete shade, but would anticipate no great degree of success. 

 As to lime, I have never bothered either to put it into the soil 

 or to avoid soil which already contains it. My soil is not na- 

 turally, however, very limy. 



THE pristine flowering period of unguicularis in Algeria is 

 said to be the months of January and February. If this 

 be so, the period is appreciably extended by cultivation. Cor- 

 revon and Masse give the flowering time as February and March 

 only, but this is not in accord with the usual experience. In 

 England bloom is said to extend from November, or sometimes 

 from the end of September, to the first of April. In southern 

 California the first shy blossoms appear on established plants 

 in September (my first ones this past year arrived September 

 nth), gradually increasing in abundance and height, both of 

 flower and foliage, till the winter rains bring out a fair burst of 

 bloom when other species of the group are only just beginning 

 to unfurl. This continues for several weeks, but along in March 

 the foliage has so far outstripped the bloom that by April the 

 latter has become wholly discouraged and with a last faltering 

 flower or two the display finally ceases. 



Since the period of active growth thus coincides more or less 

 completely with the blooming time, two periods available to 

 the gardener for dividing and transplanting his crowded clumps 

 might logically follow — one in the spring at the end of the grow- 

 ing season, the other in early fall just before the renewal of 



