464 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



marked flower. /. gcrmanica, too, has these hairs upon its standards, 

 within the hollow of their foot-stalk or attachment, as one of its charac- 

 teristics. I. pallida, too, will often show as dense a beard upon its 

 standards as on its falls, not always equally, however, on the three petals. 

 But that this question of hairs is a really important one I trust sufficient 

 has been said to show, for although Iris is readily separable into a 

 bulbous and non-bulbous section, yet, to go any further into their ar- 

 rangement, the first and chief item to be considered is this question of 

 hair. One may go through Iris and find every ph^se of development, 

 even to eccentricity of each and every part of the flower in turn. In 

 I. paradoxa the standards are enlarged to the suppression of the falls, 



Fig. 14L — Iris xiphium, or Spanish Iris. 



in I. Pscudacorus the falls to the suppression of the standards, in i". 

 Xiphium (fig. 144) the stigma is developed, in /. Vartani (figs. 119, 145) 

 the crest, and so forth ; but one comes back to the broad distinction of 

 Pogoniris — Bearded Iris, and Apogon or Beardless Iris, the dry and the 

 moist sections respectively, to speak now from a cultivator's point of view ; 

 for, however it may come about, speaking generally, Beardless Irises 

 (Bulbous excepted) delight in moisture, whilst the Bearded, of whatever 

 kind, love a sunny dry spot, sun is absolutely necessary (in conjunction 

 with sufficient food) to make them bloom, and the quality of their flowers 

 in colour and in character is vitally dependent upon the amount of sun 

 they get in both their growing, ripening, and flowering periods. That 

 they are very hardy and vigorous in constitution is a fault ; that they 



