THE IRIS. 
high, and bearing blue flowers in June and 
July. Native of Tangier. 
Iris susiana. 
Iris taurica. (The Taurian Iris.) — A 
hardy herbaceous perennial, growing six inches 
high. The flowers are yellow. Blooms in 
April and May. Native of Tauria. 
Iris tenax. (The tough-threaded Iris.) — A 
hardy, evergreen, herbaceous plant, growing 
one foot high, and producing purple flowers 
from April to July. Native of California. 
Iris tenuifolia. (The slender-leaved Iri3.) — 
A hardy bulbous plant, growing a foot and a 
half high. The flowers are pale blue, and 
open in May and June. Native of Dauria. 
Iris tridentata. (The three-toothed Iris.) — 
A hardy herbaceous perennial, growing a foot- 
and-a-half high, and flowering from May to 
October. The flowers are dark blue striped. 
Native of North America. Called also I. tri- 
petala. 
Iris triJJora. (The three-flowered Iris.) — 
A hardy herbaceous perennial, growing about 
a foot high ; -with blue flowers in June and 
July. Native of Italy. 
Iris tuber osa. (The snake's-head Iris.) — A 
hardy bulbous species, growing a foot-and-a- 
lialf high, and more remarkable for its singu- 
larity than its beauty. The leaves are quad- 
rangular ; the flowers small, dark, dull purple 
and green, and having a fancied resemblance 
to a snake's head. It blossoms in April and 
May. Native of the Levant. 
Iris variegata. (The variegated Iris.) — A 
hardy herbaceous perennial, growing from two 
to three feet high. The leaves are rather 
broad ; the flowers medium-sized, yellow and 
reddish lilac. There are two Belgian hybrids 
in cultivation; one is called De Berg, flow- 
ering in May and June ; the other, Van de 
Will, flowering in June and July. Both have 
yellow and brown flowers. The species bloom 
in May and June. Native of Hungary. 
Iris ventricosa. (The bellied Iris.) — A hardy 
herbaceous perennial, growing about a foot 
high. The flowers are pale blue, produced in 
June. Native of Dauria. 
Iris verna. (The spring-flowering, or ver- 
nal, Iris.) — This is a dwarf-growing, hardy, 
herbaceous perennial, attaining only a few 
inches in height, with slender, sword -like 
leaves, and purplish-lilac flowers, with a large 
spot of yellow at the base of each of the three 
broad, expanding segments of the flower. 
Native of North America. Flowers in April 
and May. 
Iris versicolor. (The party-coloured Iris.) 
— A hardy herbaceous perennial, growing two 
feet high. The leaves are broad and short, 
and the flowers are rather small, and of a red- 
dish purple. It flowers in May and June; 
and is a native of Virginia, and other parts of 
North America. 
Iris virescens. (The virescent Iris.) — A 
hardy herbaceous perennial, growing a foot 
high. The flowers are yellow. Blooms in 
May and June. 
Iris virginica. (The Virginian Iris.) — A 
hardy herbaceous perennial, growing two feet 
high, with broad leaves, and dark purple 
flowers, white at the base, and there showing 
numerous dark purple streaks ; the flowers 
are highly fragrant. It flowers from June 
to August. Native of the marshes of Vir- 
ginia and Carolina. The leaves smell dis- 
agreeably when bruised. 
Iris Xiphium.. (The Spanish Iris.) — A 
hardy bulbous plant, growing from two feet 
and a-half to three feet high, with roundish 
channelled leaves, which are above ground 
all the winter, and large showy flowers, which 
in the original species are blue and yellow, but 
the florists' varieties of this plant, as well as 
of I. xiphioides, comprise nearly all shades of 
colour. It is called the smaller bulbous Iris, 
on account of the flowers being smaller than 
those of I. xiphioides. It is a native of Spain, 
and flowers during May and June. 
Iris xiphioides. (The Pyrenean, or Eng- 
lish Iris.)— A hardy bulbous plant, a good 
deal like .7. Xiphium, but the flowers of this 
are larger, and it is scarcely so tall growing, and 
the leaves do not rise till the spring. This is 
called the English Iris, from the circumstance 
of its having been introduced to Holland from 
England, and there distinguished by this name. 
It flowers in June and July. Native of the 
