On the Cultivation o/Rare Plants. 



FL Atl. v. l.p. 40. t. 6. Irismicroptera. Lamarck Illust. n. 571. 

 Iris alata. Lamarck in Fncycl. Bot. v. 3. p. 302. 



I received bulbs of this rare plant, in 1801, from Sir Jo- 

 seph Banks, which were sent to him by Professor Brous- 

 soxet, from Mogadore ; but though they lived, and even 

 multiplied in the open air at Mill Hill, they never flowered 

 after the first year. Desfontaines informs us, that it grows 

 naturally in wet places. A very deep light loam would pro- 

 bably suit it best here. 



Hermod actylus Tubekosus. MSS. Iris tuberosa. Smith 

 in FL Grceca. v. l.p. 29. t. 41.— Curt, in Bot. Mag. n. 531. cum 

 Ic.—Linn. Sp. PI. ed. 2. p. 58. Hermodactylus folio quadran- 

 gulo. Tournef. Cor. p. 50. 



Many gardeners have complained to me, that they cannnot 

 make this plant flower ; and 1 believe the directions given 

 by Mr. Philip Miller, for its cultivation, are wrong : he 

 says that " if the soil be light, it will be proper to put some 

 rubbish at the bottom, to prevent the roots descending too 

 deep, in which case they seldom produce flowers." It grows 

 wild in the Peloponnesus : and in a border of deep rich loam, 

 at Chapel-Allerton, flowered every year; at Mill Hill, on a 

 dry gravel, it never flowered. 



Diaphane Edulis. MSS. Moroea Sisyrinchium. Kcrin 

 Bot. Mag. n. 1407. cum 1c. Iris sisyrinchium. Smith in Fi. 

 Grcec. v. I. p. 30. t. m.—Linn. Sp. PL ed. 2. p. 59- Sisyrin- 

 chium majus. Clus. Hist. PI. lib. 2. p. 216. cum Lc. 



This plant, contrary to the last, will thrive on a gravelly 

 soil ; for I found it close to the green-house at Mill Hill, 



