OX IRISES. 



137 



perhaps still more handsome and fragrant, I. troy ana of Western 

 Asia Minor. The typical white, broad-leaved Iris, I. florentina 

 of Italy, which is really not white but faintly blue, and the more 

 purely white I. albicans, which is found in Spain, but also 

 grows in the Mediterranean islands and the West Coast of Asia 

 Minor (and which has been distributed as a white I. germanica, 

 as well as under fancy names such as " The Bride " and " Prince 

 of Wales "), differ from I. germanica, besides the point of colour, 

 in features, which, though of specific value, are not very striking. 

 Bather farther removed, but still not very distant, is the white 

 Iris of the East, which is a favourite ornament of Turkish ceme- 

 teries and Persian gardens, and which, in many cases at all 

 events, is a variety of I. hashmiriana, the wild white Iris of 

 Kashmir, though I am inclined to think from recent observa- 

 tions may be in some cases a new distinct species. Some of 

 these Eastern white Irises are very apt to develop, under cer- 

 tain conditions, more or less purple colour, and this is especially 

 the case with a very distinct, creamy-white variety of I. hash- 

 miriana from Kandahar, which I described some few years ago 

 as I. Barton i. 



Still farther removed from the typical I. germanica is the 

 dark wild Iris of South Europe, known under the several names 

 of J. squalens, I. sambucina, and I. lurida, all of which in my 

 opinion ought to be considered as not more than varieties of one 

 species, for which the older name of sambucina should be re- 

 served. The name sambucina was given because the flowers of 

 this species often possess the odour of the elder ; but it is a mis- 

 take to regard this as a specific test, for in Irises, as in so many 

 other plants, the possession of fragrance is most fitful ; of two 

 individuals, not only belonging to the same species, but also 

 alike in all other outward respects, one may be exceedingly 

 fragrant and the other possess no odour whatever. 



Passing another step away from our type we come to 

 I. pallida, the beautiful light blue Iris of Southern and South- 

 eastern Europe. This Iris, which, by its denser inflorescence, 

 the form of its perianth segments, and the characters of its 

 capsule and seed, differs more distinctly from those which I have 

 already mentioned than these do from each other, is very 

 variable, not in the exact tints and markings of the flower, but 

 in size and stature. An exceedingly large and handsome 



