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JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



wild. I have never as yet received any wild plant, and I am not 

 aware of any collected specimens having been introduced into 

 Europe for many years past. All the plants of this species in 

 our gardens appear to be descendants of individuals long culti- 

 vated in Europe. Even more beautiful and striking than 

 I. susiana is the somewhat smaller I. ibcrica, so called from its 

 dwelling in Iberia, not of Spain but of the Caucasus. We are now 

 acquainted with several other members of this group, I. para- 

 cloxa, I. acutiloba, I. sari, I. Heylandiana, I.Helenae, 1. lupina, 

 I. atropurpurea, I. Barnumae, and others; but the finest and 

 grandest is the new I. Gatesii, introduced by my friend Mr. Max 

 Leichlin, from the mountains of Armenia, and named after my 

 friend the Rev. E. S. Gates, of the American Mission at Mardin, 

 who has been most indefatigable in assisting endeavours to 

 secure the floral treasures of that remarkable district. If you 

 imagine a flower, often very much larger than that even of 

 I. susiana, of a delicate light gray hue, resulting from minute 

 dots and delicate veins of rich purple on a creamy white ground, 

 or at times of a pure light sky blue, marked with deeper veins, 

 and at the same time of peculiar grace in form, you will readily 

 conceive that a striking addition has been made to the beauty of 

 our gardens. 



Very closely allied to the Oncocyclus group is a group of 

 bearded Irises, which, since they form a very distinct family by 

 themselves, and since we owe our knowledge of them very 

 largely to the exertions of the venerable Director of the Botanic 

 Gardens at St. Petersburg, I have proposed to call the Begelia 

 group. These are bearded Irises, the scape generally bearing 

 two or sometimes three flowers ; but they are in all respects 

 very different from the European biflora group. Some of them, 

 such as I. korolkowi, possess singular beauty, and all of them are 

 striking, though some of them, such as I. suwarowi, cannot be 

 expected to become florists' favourites. 



These Irises of the Begelia group have their home in Central 

 Asia, in Turkestan, and in Bokhara, and, like the members of 

 the Oncocyclus group, are found for the most part on hot hill- 

 sides, pushing their long cord-like scanty roots a long way into 

 the arid, gritty, or sometimes sandy soil on which they grow. In 

 winter the cold of the air above them is far below that of an 

 ordinary English winter ; but they feel it not, for they are then 



