ipomo'psis. 



154 



IRIS. 



are only suitable for large gardens or 

 shrubberies, where they can have 

 pleuty of room. They will grow in 

 any common garden soil, and they are 

 increased by seeds, or dividing the 

 root. 



Ipecacuanha. — This drug is made 

 from the root of Viola or Ionidium 

 Ipecacuanha, a stove-plant in Eng- 

 land, with pretty Avhite flowers, and 

 which should be grown in a mixture 

 of loam and peat. It is propagated bv 

 cuttings, which strike root readily in 

 sand, under a bell-glass. 



Ipomo3 v a. — Convolvulacece.-'Bea.u- 

 tiful climbing plants, annuals and 

 perennials, many of which require a 

 stove : but most of Avhich, if raised 

 on a hotbed in February, may be 

 planted out in May to flower in the 

 open air. All the species should 

 be grown in a light soil, well ma- 

 nured with decayed leaves, or the 

 very rotten part of an old hotbed. 

 The most beautiful kinds are I. ru- 

 bro-ccerulea, which, if planted out in 

 a warm border, will flower beauti- 

 fully in the open air ; and /. Learii, 

 which, though it has as yet only 

 flowered in a stove, will probably suc- 

 ceed with the same treatment. Both 

 these kinds produce an astonishing 

 number of flowers, though each flower 

 lasts only one day, and sometimes if 

 too much exposed to the sun, only a 

 few hours ; and both grow with great 

 rapidity and vigour. I. Learii is, 

 however, more shrubby than /. ru- 

 bro-ccerulea, and is generally propa- 

 gated by cuttings, which strike rapidly 

 by the aid of a little bottom-heat. 



Ipomo'psis. — Polemonictcece. — 

 Beautiful biennial Peruvian plants, 

 with splendid scarlet flowers, which 

 Professor Don, and some other bota- 

 nists, class with the Gilias ; and which 

 were formerly called Cantua. They 

 are free-growing plants ; but as they 

 are supposed to require protection dur- 

 ing winter, they are generally grown 



in pots in Englind, and kept in a 

 greenhouse. In America, however, 

 it appears that these plants are found 

 in a wild state in Georgia; and that 

 they are left in the open ground all 

 the winter, without any protection, in 

 the neighbourhood of Boston, where 

 the plants attain a size, (seven feet 

 high,) and the flow r ers a brilliancy of 

 colour quite unknown in Europe. 

 They should be grown in a light and 

 somewhat rich soil ; and care should be 

 taken to prevent their roots from 

 becoming sodden with water, as when 

 this is the case, they are very apt to 

 dam p off. 



Iris. — Iridctcece. — There are 

 three distinct kinds of Iris, besides 

 innumerable species, hybrids, and 

 varieties. These are tli6 fibrous- 

 rooted kinds, which grow best in a 

 fine sandy loam, and which increase 

 rapidly every year by suckers from the 

 roots ; the tuberous-rooted kinds 

 which are very apt to be destroyed by 

 snails, or to rot from too much wet ; 

 and the bulbous- rooted kinds, which 

 should be taken up and replanted 

 every second or third year, as the new 

 bulbs, which are formed every season, 

 are always directly under the old 

 bulb ; and thus in the course of a few 

 vears the bulbs descend so low as to 

 be out of the reach of the air, and 

 consequently incapable of vegetation. 

 Thus it wiil be generally found that 

 persons in the habit of growing Irises 

 are always complaining of losing their 

 plants, while the real fault rests with 

 themselves for not taking up their 

 bulbs at the proper time. The bul- 

 bous and tuberous-rooted Irises suc- 

 ceed best in sandy peat, or in any light 

 and dry soil. The splendid Chalce- 

 donian Iris is one of the tuberous- 

 rooted kinds ; and it not only requires 

 a dry soil during winter, but to be 

 allowed plenty of pure air during the 

 whole period of its growth, or it will 

 be very apt to damp off. 



