232 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Thunberg's name of I. orientalis for the relative of I. sibirica, and also 

 to restore to a well-known and stately garden plant the appropriate 

 name of ochroleuca. 



Both /. sibirica and /. orientalis have great possibilities for the 

 raiser of seedlings. Some of these are more fioriferous and vigorous 

 than others and the shade of blue in the flowers is also apt to vary. 

 The finest sky-blue shades may be obtained by crossing /. orientalis 

 with its albino forms, while the stature and habit of /. sibirica may 

 be combined by hybridization with the larger flowers of /. orientalis. 



With the recent introduction of two yellow-flowered relatives 

 from Western China, I. Wilsoni and /. Forrestii, the possibilities are 

 still further increased, and I have already obtained some very pleasing 

 results, in one of which the yellow of /. Wilsoni is distinctly visible 

 at the base of all the segments of a pale blue flower. 



It is impossible to pass from the sibirica group without mentioning 

 what is perhaps the finest plant of all, namely /. chrysographes, to 

 my mind one of the best of the many beautiful Chinese plants we 

 owe to Mr. E. H. Wilson. In its best forms it is really magnificent, 

 and I shall never forget the experience of watching the first flower 

 unfold, and of seeing for the first time the brilliant golden markings 

 on the rich velvety deep purple violet falls. 



Before I conclude these notes may I venture to put before you a 

 point which I had hoped to be able to illustrate to you more fully 

 from living specimens ? It concerns a confusion which has arisen 

 around the name of /. filifolia. The true plant is still rare, though I 

 hope that several hundred seedlings which I have raised will soon 

 have all reached flowering size. The plant is found in North-west 

 Africa and in Southern Spain, and I considered myself very lucky 

 when I obtained a few bulbs and some seeds through the kindness of 

 a friend at Gibraltar, who, owing to his official position, was able to 

 obtain them for me from a station near the top of the rock, where it 

 grows in almost inaccessible places in a part to which visitors are 

 not admitted. The colour is a rich red-purple with a central yellow 

 blotch, round which the juxtaposition of the purple and yellow produces 

 a kind of bluish halo. What I particularly want to point out is that 

 a large and early form of I. Xiphium, which the trade dealers have 

 put in their lists for years as /. filifolia, has nothing whatever to do 

 with that species. The difference is at once apparent in the long 

 slender perianth-tube of I. filifolia, the false plant having only the 

 short funnel-shaped tube of I. Xiphium. 



Those with whom Spanish Irises succeed cannot do better than 

 obtain a supply of the pseudo-filifolia, which might be more appro- 

 priately known as /. Xiphium var. praecox, from its early-flowering 

 habit, and cross the flowers with pollen of the best of the older Spanish 

 Irises from which early blooms have been obtained under glass. The 

 result will be a. series of large-flowered forms, similar to, and I believe 

 identical with, those which have been introduced under the name of 

 Dutch Irises during the last few years. 



