SOME GARDEN IRISES, 



227 



below the terminal head of two flowers. Apart from the inflorescence, 

 the characteristic features seem to be the spathe-valves, which are 

 half scarious at flowering time ; the presence, usual but not invariable, 

 of scattered hairs at the base of the standards on the inner side, the 

 sharply three-sided capsule, the oval or pear-shaped and not com- 

 pressed seeds, and the length of the perianth-tube, which measures 

 about an inch. Lastly, and this is a feature to which I would specially 

 draw your attention, this Iris is evergreen or practically so. It does 

 not wait until after the turn of the year before pushing up its new 

 growths. These develop rapidly during the autumn rains, and in 

 mid-winter /. germanica is at once noticeable among its relatives in 

 any collection of Irises. 



It is precisely this characteristic habit of leaf -growth that shows us 

 that the plant cannot be a native of Germany, or indeed of any part 

 of Central Europe. If you search in winter for /. aphylla (forgetting 

 for the moment that its very name means leafless) or for /. sibirica, 

 graminea, pumila, or variegata, all of which are undoubtedly natives 

 of Central Europe, you will have some difficulty in seeing even the 

 merest tips of the leaves above the surface of the soil. All are adapted 

 to resist the rigours of the Continental winters, and have learnt to 

 restrain their energies in the direction of leaf-production until the 

 worst of the weather is over and spring is at hand. 



Here it may be well to digress for a moment to notice the confusion 

 in our gardens between /. pumila and /. chamaeiris. The former 

 is comparatively rare, but may be known at once by being leafless in 

 winter, by the almost complete absence of stem, and by the long 

 perianth-tube. It is a native of Austria and Hungary, and stretches 

 round the north side of the Black Sea to the Caucasus, all districts 

 with rigorous winters. I. chamaeiris, on the other hand, starts into 

 growth, just as does /. germanica, in autumn, and it is no surprise 

 to find that it is confined to the South of France and to Northern 

 Italy, where the winters are comparatively mild. It should be readily 

 distinguished from /. pumila by its habit of growth, by its stem and 

 by its relatively short tube. We may notice, too, that the only 

 known Iris from Arabia, namely /. Madonna, and its albino form 

 7. albicans, both retain their leaves in winter just as does /. germanica. 



If we compare the growth and habits of /. germanica with those 

 of the species already mentioned, we shall be forced to the conclusion 

 that J. germanica is a native of Southern Europe or of some part of 

 the Mediterranean basin. The question of its origin is indeed com- 

 plicated by the fact that the form which we know as atropurpurea, or 

 ' Purple King,' was described as I. nepalensis by Wallich, and is in 

 cultivation in Nepal, while the well-known variety * Kharput,' which 

 Foster received from the town of that name in Asia Minor, has long 

 been naturaUzed near Srinagar in Kashmir. It also, curiously 

 enough, decorates the Guards' Monument at Sebastopol, and only last 

 ■year I found that it is the common form of /. germanica at Mostar 

 in Herzegovina. That /. germanica could have an Indian origin 



