The YOtfNC HAT9BAMST: 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



Part 56. JULY, 1884. Vol. 5. 



THE YELLOW FLAG, 



OR 



FLOWER-DE-LUCE 



(Iris pseud-acorus J 

 By J. P. Soutter, Bishop Auckland. 



WELLERS in the woodland depths 

 and haunters of the stream, 



That drink the heavy dew, and bask in 

 summer's golden beam; 



That wave upon the breezy hill, and varie- 

 gate the plain, 



And glorify and beautify the earth, so that 

 again 



It almost seems that man doth walk in 



Eden's garden bowers 

 In his primeval innocence, as sinless as the 



flowers." 



Whether he wanders by the side of 

 the purling brook, or the stiller reaches 

 of the broader river, by the slow 

 streams and placid pools of fens and 

 marshes, or the reedy margin of the 

 limpid lake, the eye of the rambling 

 botanist is sure to be attracted by the 

 tall, broad, sword-shaped leaves of the 

 water flag, and, in midsummer he will 

 be gladdened by the sight of its fan- 

 tastic and conspicuous flowers. But 

 woe betide the adventurous collector 

 who, tempted by their gaudy colour, 

 too recklessly attempts to gather its 



alluring blossoms, to add to his herbar- 

 ium, the adventure is almost certainly 

 achieved at the expense of wetted feet, 

 or even deeper struggles in the treach- 

 erous mire ; for the iris loves to grow 

 with its roots well buried in the soft 

 mud, and its thick fleshy rhizomes just 

 creeping upon the surface, and where 

 they are, if not constantly, at least 

 occasionally covered with water. Yet, 

 although essentially a water lover, the 

 iris is not so confirmed an aquatic but 

 what it will exist in ordinary garden 

 soil if fairly supplied with moisture, 

 but naturally it is never seen except in 

 the vicinity of water, nor does it attain 

 perfection under any other conditions. 



The iris is a well-marked represent- 

 ative of the large primary division of 

 flowering plants known as Monocotyle- 

 dons, because they have only one seed- 

 leaf ; they are also sometimes called 

 Endogens, owing to the peculiar 

 arrangement and development of the 

 vascular bundles in the stein. All our 

 native plants of this section, with the 

 one solitary exception of the butcher's 

 broom (Buscus aculeatus), are herb- 

 aceous plants, the serial stems of which 

 die down annually, so that there is no 



