The Apogon Section 57 
lazica resembles Asia Minor forms much more closely, for in all the examples that I have seen the 
veining is continued over nearly the whole of the blade of the falls. 
There are several garden varieties 1 of I. unguicularis , and these include more than one white 
form’, of which some are certainly more floriferous than others. When the type is raised from seed, 
several slight variations in colour and markings occur and the various garden forms were probably 
obtained in this way. r 1 
There is, however, one very distinct form, known as speciosa. In my experience, this does not 
come into flower until March and its flowers have a fragrance quite distinct from that of the type 
and resembling that of the Sweet Pea. The foliage is dwarf, so that the flowers stand well above it 
The blooms are of a deep reddish shade of purple and the peculiar ring of swellings where the bases 
of the segments of the flowers merge into the tube is not present, as far as I know, in any other 
form. It would be no surprise to find that this form is a local variety coming originally from Greece. 
In a warm dry climate, the cultivation of /. unguicularis presents no difficulty. In spring and 
early summer growth should be encouraged by unstinted moisture and even weak liquid manure 8 . After 
midsummer, at the latest, the plants should be allowed to roast in the sun and it will usually be found 
that the more thorough this process is, the larger will be the crop of flowers in the ensuing season. 
In obtaining this annual roasting, a position at the foot of a south wall is almost essential in England 
and if this south wall happens to be that of a greenhouse, with warm pipes on the inner side, the 
production of flowers will be less liable to cessation during frosty weather. In some rich damp soils, 
the growth of the plants is never ripened off in summer and, in such cases, the main hope of success 
lies in the construction of a raised bed against a south wall. The soil should be rendered light and 
porous by the plentiful addition of old mortar rubble. Sharp drainage is, of course, essential. 
Following the rule that Irises should be transplanted, when root-growth is about to begin, it will 
be found that there are two seasons at which this is possible, namely in April or September. It is 
a mistake to break up large clumps, for small pieces seldom flower. With a judicious top dressing 
in spring of a little good soil or very old manure, it will be found that the plants can be grown 
for years in the same position without exhausting the soil within reach of the roots. 
Seeds are freely produced in most seasons and germinate readily. The seedlings grow fairly 
rapidly and begin to flower in their third or fourth year. I am inclined to think that home-raised 
seedlings are often hardier than imported plants. At any rate the severe frosts of 1911 killed all the 
buds — and they were very numerous — on a number of plants from the south of France that had 
been established for more than a year. Not one flower subsequently developed and yet dissection 
of the shoots showed large numbers of immature buds destroyed by the frost. On the other hand, 
some home-raised seedlings, although they ceased flowering during the cold weather, subsequently threw 
up more blooms. 
In frosty weather, the clumps should be protected from the early morning sun, whose rays 
falling on the frosted plants seem far more destructive than the frost itself. 
/. unguicularis is well adapted for cultivation in large pots or pans. These should be sunk in 
the ground in some sheltered position during the spring and early summer and growth should be 
encouraged at that season by occasional waterings with weak liquid manure. From July onwards 
until about the end of September, the growths should be ripened by withholding excessive moisture 
and plants thus grown should flower abundantly, if brought into a cool house for the winter. 
IX. The Spuria Group. 
This well-marked group of Irises includes all those species or subspecies which have a two-toothed 
stigma and more or less trigonal capsules with a double ridge at each angle (see Fig. 5, p. 58). The 
seeds of all agree in the possession of a loose papery envelope, which varies considerably in colour 
in the various plants. This encloses a smooth light-brown seed of roughly cubical shape (see Plate 
XLVIII, fig. 10). 
The flowers in many cases bear a striking resemblance to those of I. xiphium, and the falls are 
always more or less panduriform 4 . The stems are more or less completely sheathed in reduced leaves, 
while the lateral branches are held erect close to the main stem and do not project obliquely as in most 
other species. The consequence is that the inflorescence appears to be arranged in a single terminal 
spike with the flowers closely set one above the other on the stem (see Plates XV, XVI, XVII). 
The forms and varieties are endless in number, and some of the larger are handsome garden 
plants, for the tall narrow foliage and graceful spikes of flowers are an ornament to any border. 
1 See The Garden, Sept. 15, 1894. 
3 See The Garden, p. 736, 1908. An account is there given of the first discovery of a single white-flowered plant in the 
Algerian scrub about 1878 by the Rev. Edwyn Arkwright. 
1 This is only advisable because the plants do best in a poor gritty soil in England, though in their native homes they 
thrive in fertile clay. 
4 The orbicular or oval blade is separated by a more or less narrow and constricted neck from the long oval haft. 
D. 
8 
