142 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Allow me here, just for a moment, to turn aside to say a few 

 words about hybridisation among Irises. There can be no doubt 

 that Irises hybridise with tolerable readiness. I have already 

 referred to the so-called German Irises being, to a large extent, 

 of hybrid origin, and I have raised several hybrids myself. 

 Here is one [specimen shown] between two Irises, quite a long 

 way apart, I. Chamaeiris and the species I. iberica, about which I 

 shall shortly say a word. Not only have I the whole history of 

 the crossing, but the plant itself betrays its origin by its features. 

 I have also raised a number of hybrids, some not without beauty, 

 by crossing I. balkana with I. Gengialti ; these I described some 

 few years back in the Gardeners' Chronicle. And I have many 

 other hybrids in various stages, some of which I hope may prove 

 not unwelcome additions to our gardens. Besides the " German 

 Irises" of which I just now spoke, several other plants in our 

 collections are clearly of hybrid origin. There is, for instance, 

 one very sturdy free -flowering fragrant dwarf Iris, which would 

 be really beautiful if it were not so blotchy in colour, called 

 sometimes "7. biflora gracilis,'" and sometimes "I. pumila 

 gracilis." This is, I am sure, a hybrid between I. viresccns and 

 I. nudicaulis ; it bears on itself the marks of I. viresccns, and I 

 have raised from the seed of it nearly typical I. nudicaulis. 

 Irises, then, do hybridise, and that pretty freely, especially, 

 perhaps, in the group of which I am speaking now, and it is 

 more than probable that some of the wild forms, as certainly 

 many of the cultivated forms, are of hybrid origin, and if so, 

 ought to bear corresponding names. 



Returning now to the group of dwarf Irises on which I have 

 dwelt so long, let me end my story about them by saying that 

 whatever their names, and whether we can name them satis- 

 factorily or no, the principles which I laid down at the beginning 

 of my talk may be applied directly to them. Everything about 

 them tells us that like the gcrmanica group, and much more so 

 than that group, these dwarf Irises, whether of the biflora group 

 or the still dwarfer forms, need a somewhat scanty, not too rich 

 soil, and a full exposure to all the sunshine which they can ever 

 get in this country. They show individual proclivities of course. 

 The large-flowered rich purple, or yellow, or whitish dwarf Iris, 

 growing near Hyeres, and known as I. olbiensis, profits more by 

 a damp soil, or rather perhaps subsoil, than the others. But 



