64 
FLORA AND SYLVA 
shaded from the sun; but these cuttings 
are so apt to grow one-sided and mis- 
shapen, that when possible seedling ' 
trees should be used in preference." 
Why, certainly they should, and it is ; 
far from a pleasant thought to a lover | 
of the forest tree, that the Yew should | 
ever be increased from a cutting, except 
in the case of the mere garden forms 
which can only be multiplied in that ; 
way, or by grafting. It is to be feared 
that the stubby many-stemmed Yews 
that one sees, are cutting plants, and ! 
all who care for the Yew as a tree i 
should go to nurseries where there is 
no doubt about seed of the wild tree 
being used to raise the stock. Even 
with that guarantee it would be well 
to pick among the seedlings those 
with the boldest leading shoots. I 
Like some other trees of 
widedistribution,theYew 
has been the mother of many varieties, 
but not one of these is worth planting 
from a forest point of view. If one 
looks at a natural grove of wild Yews, 
one may often see " sports " on the 
branches, and the Irish Yew has de- | 
veloped from one of these. I am led j 
to think that very few varieties of trees ! 
are ever as good as the wild tree, being j 
mostly short-lived, and unsatisfactory I 
in other ways. No garden varieties of j 
the common Yew should ever be plant- i 
ed in woodland. 
References. — Loudon, Aboretum, vol. 4, p. 2006 ; 
Selby, British Forest Trees, p. 361 ; Webster, Hardy 
Coniferous Trees, p. 1 16 ; Mouillefort, Principales Essences 
Forestieres, p. 403 ; Veitch's Manual, p. 291 ; Gordon, i 
Pinetum, p. 386 ; Lowe, Yew Trees of Britain and Ireland ; ; 
Evelyn, Silva, vol. 1, p. 257 ; Cobbett, Woodlands, par. , 
593 ; Mathieu, Flore Forestiere, p. 508 ; Hooker, Flora 
of British India, vol. 5, p. 648 ; Stewart and Brandis, | 
Forest Flora of India, p. 539. * * 
IRIS PARADOXA AND ITS HY- 
BRIDS : WITH A COLOURED 
PLATE OF IRIS " PARSAMB." * 
The coloured plate offers a good por- 
trait of this scarce hybrid Iris, raised by 
Sir Michael Foster from /. paradoxa 
and /. sambuci7ia^ and but one of many 
such crosses made by him, one of the 
best known being /r/> " Parvar " x 
between /. paradoxa and /. variegata 
— a fine dark flower and easily grown. 
He has also obtained hybrids of para- 
doxa with /. Lorteti^ I. iberica^ I. lupina^ 
and /. Meda^ and has even combined 
in one plant the three species /)^3'r^(3((9Ar<3', 
Korolkowi^ and pallida. Messrs Dam- 
mann of Naples have also used /. para- 
doxa with /. Swertii^ in producing 
^^Alkmene " x , a plant well figured in 
the Gardeners Chronicle of June 2 2, 
1901. 
Iris paradoxa is a remarkable species 
of the 07icocyclns group (containing 
some of the finest of all Irises), and if 
not in itself of the first beauty it is not 
without charm, and of great interest in 
its marked characteristics. It has strap- 
shaped falls with a small, round blade, 
and the hairs of the cushion or " beard" 
set as thickly as velvet pile. This feat- 
ure is present in a greater or less degree 
in all its hybrids, and is well seen in 
Iris ^^Parsamb^' the plant of our col- 
oured plate. Iris paradoxa is a native 
of Persia, Georgia, and the Caucasus. 
Iris sambucina, the pollen parent of our 
plant, belongs to the germanica group 
and owes its name to the strong Elder 
scent of its flowers. It is closely allied 
to /. s^ualensy which has a fainter smell 
From a drawing by H. G. Moon in the Botanic Gardens, Cambridge. 
