2 Introduction 
There is little doubt that, at least in the case of Irises, herbarium material, unsupplemented by a 
knowledge of the living plant, is most misleading, and it has therefore been my endeavour to grow in 
my garden specimens of all the available species, and to introduce, or reintroduce, into cultivation, species 
that were not readily obtainable. In this I have been greatly helped by the kindness of many friends 
and correspondents and take this opportunity of expressing my gratitude to them. The following list 
of those to whom I am indebted is, I am afraid, incomplete, but any omission in it is certainly not 
intentional. 
Mrs A. J. Adams, Waldo, Oregon. 
J. G. Baker, Esq., Kew. 
W. Baker, Esq., Oxford. 
C. F. Ball, Esq., Glasnevin. 
Messrs Barr & Sons, Covent Garden. 
A. C. Bartholomew. Esq., Reading. 
Prof. I. Bayley Balfour, Edinburgh. 
Dr J. Bernatsky, Budapest. 
A. J. Bliss, Esq., Tunbridge Wells. 
Major C. Bowie Evans, Abbottabad. 
E. A. Bowles, Esq., Waltham Cross. 
A. K. Bulley, Esq., Neston. 
J. Carrington Ley, Esq., Maidstone. 
H. Cave Brown. Esq., Kohat. 
G. H. Cave, Esq., Darjeeling. 
Sir Mark Collet, Bart., Kemsing. 
Mons. H. Correvon, Geneva. 
W. B. Crump. Esq., Halifax. 
Col. D. D. Cunningham, Torquay. 
The Calcutta Botanic Garden. 
Mr Walter Deane, Cambridge, Mass. 
Mons. F. Denis, Balaruc-les-Bains. 
Pfcre Ducloux, Yunnan. 
S. T. Dunn, Esq., Kew. 
Miss A. Eastwood, California. 
Herr G. Egger, Jaffa. 
H. J. Elwes, Esq., Colesborne. 
Dr A. Engler, Berlin. 
R. Farrer, Esq., Ingleborough. 
Mme Olga Fedtschenko, St Petersburg. 
Prof. M. L. Fernald, Cambridge, Mass. 
Dr A. Fomin, Tiflis. 
The late Sir Michael Foster. 
George Forrest, Esq., Midlothian. 
Mons. F. Gagnepain, Paris. 
Norman Gill, Esq., Kumaon. 
Miss A. E. Gordon, Marash. 
The late W. E. Gumbleton, Esq., Queenstown. 
A. G. Harrison, Esq., Srinagar. 
Dr J. A. Henriques. Coimbra. 
Sir Arthur F. Hort, Bart., Harrow-on-the-Hill. 
Captain Terence Keyes, Quetta, Baluchistan. 
C. C. Lacaita, Esq., Midhurst. 
The late Max Leichtlin, Baden Baden 
Mons. H. L£veill£, Le Mans. 
Major Gen. Lome Campbell, Abbottabad. 
R. Irwin Lynch, Esq., Cambridge. 
Pierce 0‘Mahony, Esq., Sofia. 
Col. J. Manners Smith, Khatmandu. 
Dr C. von Marchesetti, Trieste. 
Mons. H. Mass£, Vendee. 
Mons. A. Mermier-Boyer, Chabel-el-Ameur. 
G. Metaxa, Esq., London. 
Mr Frank N. Meyer, Washington, D.C. 
Sir Frederick Moore, Glasnevin. 
Herr W. Muller, Nocera Inferiore. 
Prof. Aven Nelson, Laramie. 
A. Parsons, Esq., Simla. 
Dr A. Paulin, Laibach. 
Mons. G. V. Perez, Tenerife. 
Herr F. Petrak, Mahr: Weisskirchen. 
Carl Purdy, Esq., Ukiah. 
F. Raine, Esq., Hy&res. 
Dr A. B. Rendle, British Museum. 
W. H. Rickatson, Esq., London. 
Dr J. N. Rose, Washington, D.C. 
The Hon. N. C. Rothschild, London. 
Sir John F. Rotton, Godaiming. 
Mons. A. Schelkownikow, Chaldan. 
Herr F. Scheubel, Oberlahnstein. 
Herr W. Schreiber, Bozen. 
Mrs Shearme, Repton. 
Baron de Soutellinho, Oporto. 
Major T. R. Swinburne, Liss. 
Capt. B. Taylor, Hongkong. 
Dr W. Trelease, St Louis, Mo. 
Mr C. G. van Tubergen, Junr., Haarlem. 
Dr J. Velenovsky, Prague. 
Mons. Philippe de Vilmorin, Verri&res-le-Buisson. 
Dr R. Wagner, Vienna. 
Dr A. Fischer von Waldheim, St Petersburg. 
Messrs R. Wallace & Co., Colchester. 
Dr R. v. Wettstein, Vienna. 
Miss E. Willmott, Great Warley. 
G. Yeld, Esq., York. 
Dr A. Zahlbriickner, Vienna. 
My greatest debt of all is due to the late Sir Michael Foster, who encouraged me to undertake 
the investigation into the whole genus. My acquaintance with him was all too short, but it was long 
enough to make me appreciate that generosity with which he placed his knowledge and his plants 
at the disposal of those who followed in his footsteps. We can never cease to regret that he himself 
found it impossible to give us a monograph on the Iris genus but he was always unwilling to take 
any steps towards this end. 
At his death, there passed into the hands of Miss Willmott of Warley Place, about a dozen rough 
notebooks, containing accounts of some of the Irises that flowered in his garden at Shelford and 
illustrated by accurate pencil drawings of the flowers. For some years every plant or packet of seeds 
that Foster received was identified by the date of the year in which it reached him and by a letter 
of the alphabet, e.g. 88 D or 90 EE, and a page was devoted to it in one or other of the notebooks. 
Each entry usually begins with a note of the appearance of the rhizome or seeds and sometimes 
ends abruptly with the laconic expression “All died." In other cases minute descriptions are added 
as the plant developed and flowered, and it was these descriptions that Foster published, when any 
