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J. Horace McFarland Co. Photo. 
A WALK MADE DOUBLY PLEASURABLE BY KNOWLEDGE 
Though no amount of specialized information can increase one’s enjoyment of the color, scent, and regal growth of Irises in bloom, which is after all primarily a mat- 
ter of feeling, to be able to call them by name is to the genuine Iris lover as much an imperative necessity as to know the name of any friend similarly held in 
high regard. For among the Irises, as among humans, a name sometimes proves an open sesame to personal history and all sorts of family affiliations of significance 
HOW TO KNOW YOUR IRISES 
A. C. ARNY 
New System of Classification for Garden Irises, Plant 
Characters Used in Determination of Varietal Groups 
J 
t 
HE increasing frequency of appearance of many new 
varieties of Iris through hybridizing has largely obliter-- 
ated previously recognized botanical relationships 
on which the older systems of classification were based. 
But the real test of any system is its usefulness, and one based 
primarily on botanical lines is apt to prove unworkable in deal- 
ing with large groups of garden varieties. Systems at present 
in use are practically valueless for identifying an unknown yet 
standard variety. 
A classification based wholly on the color of flowers can be 
made to apply in general to the main divisions of the 1 ris family. 
This is the method adopted by A. J. Bliss {The Garden, London, 
England, Feb. yth, 1920), by R. S. Sturtevant {The Garden, 
Jan. 31, 1920), byC. H. Hall, and by Wallace & Co. (Catalogue 
for 1919 and later) who include also time of flowering. These 
four systems were summarized by Mr. Sturtevant in The Flower 
Grower, June, 1920; and, for the reader’s convenience, are re- 
printed below together with a fifth now suggested by myself, 
which in addition to color of flower and time of flowering as 
points of identification, includes height and character of stem, 
coloration of leaf base, and other minor characters. 
Classification by Color of Flower 
O BVIOUSLY any division based on color of flower only, 
must of necessity be more or less artificial; but the method 
of including all varieties of one general color effect (both seifs 
and bicolors of various kinds) in one class as proposed by A. J. 
