ON IRISES. 



141 



France through Italy towards the East, you may gather wild a 

 number of Irises, which, when you look at them individually, 

 appear quite different from each other, and yet are so allied to 

 each other, and pass so gradually from one set of features to 

 another, that it becomes most difficult, if not impossible, to 

 arrange them satisfactorily under any list of acknowledged 

 names — under, for instance, the list given by Mr. Baker, who, as 

 you all know, has done so much to extend and correct our 

 knowledge of Irises. Many of these wild forms have been 

 introduced into our collections. They have been cultivated in 

 our gardens for two or three centuries ; there they have seeded, 

 and, indeed, have been propagated by seed. In seeding they 

 have sported, and, moreover, bear obvious signs of having 

 undergone hybridisation. The result is, that when you come to 

 a large collection like that of Mr. Barr, or Mr. Ware, or Mr. 

 Backhouse, or others of our nurserymen who cultivate this 

 genus, you find an immense number of obviously distinct forms 

 belonging to this group alone, of which I am now speaking, that 

 is to say, forms so distinct, that the nurseryman must have a 

 name by which he may sell them in such a way that the 

 purchaser knows what he is buying, and yet you cannot — that is 

 to say, I cannot — name them all according to received and 

 acknowledged names. I am doing my best to form some idea 

 of how they ought to be called, and how they ought to be 

 arranged, and do not despair of eventually "getting them in 

 shape." But much has yet to be done. The first step is to be 

 quite sure as to which are the actual wild forms ; and I may here 

 take this opportunity of reminding such of my readers as are 

 fond of travelling abroad, that they can much assist my labours, 

 and afford me much gratification, if, when in their walks or 

 drives abroad, they come upon any Iris undoubtedly growing 

 wild, that is in situations in which it is unlikely that it can have 

 escaped from a garden, they would kindly not dig up the whole 

 plant (for I quite share the views of those who think that many 

 beautiful wild plants have quite difficulties enough to struggle 

 against, without feeling the blow of man's hand), but just to 

 break off a piece of the rhizome with a few roots upon it, to wrap 

 the piece up dry in a piece of brown paper, with a label stating 

 the exact habitat, and to drop it in the nearest post office, 

 addressed to me at Shelford, Cambs. 



