TUBEROUS AND RHIZOMATOUS FLOWERS. 61 



and bears, towards the end of summer, a spike of white 

 sweet-scented flowers. F. Ccendea, has smaller, some- 

 what earlier, violet-blue flowers, and oval heart-shaped 

 leaves, of a darker green, and with more strongly-marked 

 longitudinal veins. Both species like a warm dry soil, 

 and flower well in pots on a sunny shelf of the green- 

 house, though they will live out in the open ground. 

 They are made for a longer summer than 'our own. 



Iris. — Several of the tuberous-rooted Irises are decided 

 and deserving favourites. The most striking is the 

 Chalcedonian Iris, I. Susiana, or "Widow Iris, whose 

 large flowers are marbled or veined with a dull greyish 

 purple-brown, which suggests the idea of the hues of 

 mourning. Must have a warm, dry, deep soil, and does 

 not like disturbance. Will be sure to rot off with too 

 much moisture. The most common Iris is the German, 

 I. Germanica, useful for its hardihood and thrift in con- 

 fined situations ; will grow even on roofs or the tops of 

 walls. Its blue flowers appear in May and June. There 

 are paler and also white varieties. The Grassy Iris, 

 I. grcnninea, the Silky Iris, I. setosa, and the Siberian 

 Iris, I. Sibirica, do well in ordinary garden-ground. The 

 Dwarf Iris, I. pitmila, makes a neat edging of short stiff 

 leaves, above which numerous blue flowers appear in 

 spring. There are white, purple, and russet-tinted 

 varieties. The kind with yellow flowers veined with 

 brown, J. lutescens, is a little taller, and flowers some- 

 rimes from the month of October. The Hungarian Iris, 

 I. Sungarica, is also used for edging. It is also a little 

 taller than the preceding, and displays its numerous 

 violet-blue flowers a little later. More than fifty species 

 of Iris are known to botanists. 



Ladies' Slipper — Cupripedium. — An elegant genus, 

 whose species are natives of the mountains of Europe, 

 India, and Jforth America. Their culture is difficult, 

 and their propagation still more so. They must be 

 treated like the terrestrial Orchidaceae, i. e. like those 

 members of that large family which have their roots in 

 the ground instead of hanging to the branches of trees. 



