I'RIS CHINEN'SIS. 
CHINESE IRIS. 
Class Order. 
TRIANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
IRIDE^. 
Native of 
Heig-ht. 
j Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
China. 
2 feet. 
1 May, June. 
Perennial. 
in 1792. 
No. 669. 
Iris, the Greek name of the rain-bow. It was a 
happy thought of the old botanists to connect the 
rain-bow — its colouring, and its evanescence — with 
flowers ; and the more so, since the summer shower 
and sunny ray are equally the parents of both. 
The Iris Chinensis is usually cultivated in the 
green-house, and very frequently with equal suc- 
cess,‘ as a window plant ; it is however, sufficiently 
hardy to bear a mild winter when exposed in the 
borders. We have met with a singular practice in 
its cultivation, which is considered indispensible to 
its luxuriant growth by the persons who adopt it; 
this is, watering it regularly with boiling water ; 
the water being poured into the pan in which the pot 
with the plant is placed. Whether water be better 
adapted after boiling, to the requirements of this 
plant we are not prepared to state, but it is certain 
that with it this Iris often flowers splendidly. Al- 
though this plant may be cultivated as a half- 
hardy or frame plant, it does not flower so finely 
as when kept in the window of a sitting room. It 
should have a rich soil, and may be divided at any 
season of the } ear. 
168 Hort. Kew. 2, 1, 123. 
