THE LITERATURE OF THE IRIS 
The Iris in Pre-Linnaean Literature. 
The earliest extant picture of an Iris is probably that on p. 147 of the Vienna Codex of 
Dioscorides. This appears to have been written and illustrated at the beginning of the sixth 
century a.d., and it has recently been made more generally accessible by the typographical repro- 
duction that was published at Leyden in 1906. Although in this work the variety of the colours 
to be found among Iris flowers is mentioned, it is not as garden plants that Irises are considered 
but as the source of drugs. The multiplicity of the ailments for which Iris preparations are pre- 
scribed is truly astonishing. Freckles are removed, ulcers cured and filled with flesh ; sleep is 
induced and tears produced ; the gynaecologist relies largely upon them. Indeed, Dioscorides 
concludes, Irises are very useful generally 1 . 
The rhizomes are to be prepared by being cut into pieces, dried in the shade and then 
threaded on strings and stored away. 
These directions are repeated in terms that are so nearly identical with those used by Dios- 
corides as to leave little doubt concerning the source of the recommendations in the New Herball 
of Wylliam Turner, Phisician unto the Duke of Somersettes Grace, which was published in London 
in 1551. At p. 23 of Part 11 of this work, under the heading "Of flour Delyce or flour Deduce, " 
occur the directions for drying and storing the rhizomes, while at p. 17 1 we read "Of Xyris or 
Spourgwurt ; The vertues of the Diche bur. The dich bur is good to be layd unto swellings. 
The broth of it, if it be sodden wyth wyne, fasteneth louse teth, if the mouth be wasshed 
therewyth.” 
Twenty-five years later, in 1576, Carolus Clusius published the first work* that shows an intimate 
knowledge of Irises as flowering plants. This was an account of some rare plants, several of which 
he had discovered in Spain and Portugal. In nearly every case Clusius’ observations are so exact 
that it is easy to recognise the plants to which he refers. The following is the list of the 
species : — 
1 . I. bnlbosa latifolia = /. alata. 
2. I. bulbosa angustifolia flore vario = /. xiphium. 
3. /. bulbosa angustifolia luteo flore = /. xiphium var. lusitanica or possibly /. juncea. 
4. I. bulbosa angustifolia flore purpureo = /. xiphioides. 
5. Sisyrinchium tnajus et minor = I. sisyrinchium and its small variety with a single leaf. 
6. /. lusitanica scu biflora = /. subbiflora Brotero. 
7. /. humilis latifolia = /. chamaeiris (obtained apparently from Montpellier). 
8. /. angustifolia major = I. spuria var. subbar bata Joo. 
9. /. angustifolia media = /. spuria var. maritima Lam. probably, although, in his next work, Clusius gives 
the name to what was undoubtedly I. sibirica Linn. 
Of /. alata he tells us that it has a stemless flower in the midst of the leaves, that an albino form 
sometimes occurs, and that when introduced to Northern Europe it fails to flower, a reputation 
that is usually maintained even now by imported plants after their first season. 
His Spanish Iris has blue falls with a yellow blotch and standards of a paler purplish blue, 
and the yellow-flowered plant which came from near the Tagus above Lisbon had a shorter stem 
and more slender leaves. This might be /. juncea, but the bulbs now obtained from that locality 
appear to be small yellow-flowered forms of I. xiphium, to which the name /. lusitanica has been 
given. 
Clusius’ account of /. xiphioides explains why the plant has also been known as the English 
Iris. He tells us that he had thought that the plant was a native of England, and that Lobel 
had told him that he had first seen it at Bristol. Thither he had accordingly journeyed and 
searched the fields in vain for the plant. He rightly concluded that the Iris had been brought 
to Bristol by Spanish ships trading with that port. 
' xat koBoKov tur'i nokv^prqaroi. 
* See the bibliographical lists at p. 8. 
