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The Garden Magazine, July, 1920 
tion belong nearly all the native American species, many of 
which seem to be much more nearly related to European or 
Asiatic plants than to any other American members of the 
genus. Thus the common 1. versicolor of the bogs of Massa- 
chusetts is practically only the purple counterpart of the 
yellow European 1. pseudacorus. Forms of 1. setosa are found 
on the coast of Maine, in Labrador, in the Yukon district and 
also in Siberia, while I. longipetala, from the coast near San 
Francisco, and two or three closely allied 
species growing further inland, are akin to 
the Asiatic I. ensata which flourishes from the 
desert regions of Central Asia to Northern 
China and Japan. 
California contains a group of plants — 1. 
Douglasiana, 1. Watsoniana, 1. 
tenax, 1. Purdyi, 1. bracteata, 
and 1. macrosiphon — which, be- 
sides being beautiful in them- 
selves have the further advan- 
tage that no two seedlings are 
precisely alike, while the range 
of color is extremely wide. The 
only drawbacks are that some of 
the species are none too vigorous 
in any climate less genial than 
that of California, and that the 
plants object to transplantation 
and must be established as seedlings in 
permanent positions if they are to do well. 
In the southeastern United States a curious 
distinct group is formed by the terra-cotta Iris 
fulva from the marshes along the Mississippi near 
New Orleans, the bold and vigorous 1 . hexagona 
from the same district and also from Florida, 
and its dwarf form from Arkansas, known 
as 1. foliosa (syn. Hamancei) which, as it 
remains leafless during the winter, is prob- 
ably the best suited to a more northerly 
climate. That this plant is closely allied to 
1. fulva was proved by the ease with which 1 
was able to combine the two in a hybrid 
called fulvala. In this the blue-purple of 
foliosa has combined with the terra-cotta of 
fulva to form a rich dark purple practically 
unknown elsewhere among Irises. More- 
over, the hybrid is more vigorous and easier 
to grow than either of its parents. 
Another great division of the Apogon 
section centres round 1 . spuria, which is dis- 
tinguished by the twin projecting ridges which run down each 
of the three angles of the ripe seed vessel. The flowers may be 
either blue or yellow, as in 1. aurea, or white and yellow as in I. 
ochroleuca; and the tall stems and tall erect foliage make them 
an ornament to any border. To this group also belongs 1. 
graminea, of which the flowers may have the fragrance of a 
ripe plum or green gage — though to obtain this a certain amount 
of selection may be necessary among seedlings, of which some 
are almost deficient in scent. 
L AST but not least comes the large group of sibiricas which 
j flourish exceedingly in a cool, moist, vegetable soil — a 
group to which so many delightful discoveries in Western China 
have been added of recent years. Iris sibirica itself is a Central 
European and Russian plant with numerous slender, hollow 
stems which raise the rather small blue or white flowers well 
above the grassy foliage. In Eastern Asia this gives place to 
orientalis which has larger flowers on dwarfer and less numer- 
ous stems. A dwarf, yellow-flowered species is I. Forrestii 
while I. Wilsoni is taller but of a less clear yellow. The 
flowers of I. chrysographes are a rich dark velvety-purple set off 
with a patch of golden veining on the falls. This is one of the 
most striking of the new species. 
All the members of this group hybridize together very easily 
and give a very wide range of results. 1 have also found it 
possible to combine the Himalayan representative, I. Clarkei 
as well as I. chrysographes with the Californian 1. Douglasiana 
with a most pleasing result in the latter case. This hybrid has 
flowers of a pale crushed-strawberry pink, with a large patch of 
golden veining. 
Intermediate between the Pogoniris and the Apogons 
comes the small group of Evansia Irises, represented in 
America by I. cristata and its close ally I. lacustris. In 
all the members of the group there is a linear crest, like a 
single cock’s-comb running along the centre of the blade 
of the falls. The finest species 
is probably l. tectorum (blue) 
with its beautiful white form. 
This Iris gets its name from the 
fact that it was found growing 
in lumps of clay on the ridge of 
thatched houses in China and 
Japan. It is probably a native 
of the provinces of Hupeh and 
Yunnan. Its Himalayan count- 
erpart, I. Milesii, has smaller 
red-purple flowers and a much 
more vigorous growth. For some 
reason 1 have never succeeded in hybrid- 
izing these two species, although I have 
succeeded in combining the crest of 
tectorum with the beard of Pogoniris in 
the shape of a dwarf form of 1. pallida. 
Two other Chinese Irises, japonica or 
fimbriata and Wattii, also belong to this 
group. The former will hardly ever 
flower in the open here, though the fact 
that it flourishes in Chitral, where ex- 
tremes of temperature are at least as 
great as those in the States, seems to 
show that it has more chance of succeed- 
ing in America than 1. Wattii, which 
alone of all 1 rises produces its flower stem 
in one summer but does not produce its 
flowers until the following spring. 
Of the late flowering bulbous species, 
the well-known Spanish Irises (I. 
xiphium) is common in English gardens 
and welcome in America where it can 
be kept alive, but the knowledge may 
not be common that an early flowering race can be obta ned 
by crossing flowers of the variety known to the trade grow- 
ers as filifolia or praecox with pollen of any of the older 
varieties. (The true 1. filifolia is a very different species and has 
flowers of the richest red-purple, a shade that is not found 
among forms of I. xiphium). Iris tingitana is the finest of all 
in this class but it comes from Tangiers and needs a warm cli- 
mate to make it flower. And all these species do best in a warm, 
light, dry soil; consequently in gardens where the soil is cool and 
moist it is better to grow the so-called English Iris (1. xiphioides) 
which comes from the wet slopes of the Pyrenees. This Iris 
is called “English” because it first became known to botanists 
as growing in gardens near Bristol, to which it had been brought 
by early traders with Spain. 
Perhaps enough has been said to show the variety and in- 
terest that can be found among the various species of Iris, 
though this is merely a rough scheme of the principal sections 
of the Iris genus. May I add that it is always of interest to me 
to hear how Irises flourish under conditions different from those 
which prevail in my garden here; and that, if I can help others 
to grow them, I am always ready to do my best? 
Iris persica var. stenophylla, of the Juno 
section, is gray-blue overlaid with deep 
velvety blue-black, the central ridge being 
brownish white flecked with brown-purple 
