April, 1917 
47 
bers are found between about 33° and 40° 
north latitude—it, is evident that there must 
be a great many more races represented 
than those named; and also it is evident 
that German iris and English iris cannot 
come from either of those countries. So 
this system of classification is somewhat 
out of point, as it were. 
The Iris Varieties 
As a matter of fact, there is just one iris 
entitled to he called German iris: Iris Ger- 
inanica, so named by its official sponsors 
long ago. It is native to central and south¬ 
ern Europe, blooms usually 
in hlay, is purple with yel¬ 
low beard, and is not the 
parent of the great mass of 
hybrids which pass gener- 
ically as "German” iris. 
These are closely related to 
it, it is true, through a par¬ 
entage of allied species; 
but Iris Gcrmanica itself 
has but few varieties, be¬ 
ing a reluctant seeder and 
therefore not a promising 
species for the hybridizer. 
The lovely Elorentine 
iris is usually one of the 
parents of the so-called 
Germanica hybrids. It is 
Iris Florentina, the earliest 
flowering of the tall and 
showy kinds, with large 
flowers of a gleaming grey¬ 
ish white over which the 
color I have already men¬ 
tioned plays remarkably. 
The orris root of the chem¬ 
ist is the root of this spe¬ 
cies ; and fiowers and root 
both have the delightful, 
refreshing odor. This is 
also native to central and 
southern Europe, and a 
near relative of Iris Gcr¬ 
manica. A natural pure 
white variety of the species 
is found in Spain and the 
Island of Cyprus, and is 
distinguished by the varie¬ 
tal name albicans. Both 
the species and the variety 
are lovely. 
Perhaps the most strik¬ 
ing difiference between the 
few true G ermanica hy¬ 
brids and the Florentina 
hybrids is the fragrance of 
the latter, and the lack of 
scent of the former. Still 
another fragrant species is 
the Juno iris {Iris pallida), 
usually violet in color and 
closely resembling Ger¬ 
manica, save for the scent and the later 
flowering period. It blooms about a month 
later, or along in June. The variety speci- 
osa of this is lovely, with light blue flowers 
borne on long stems. 
The commonest iris of our gardens gen¬ 
erally, then, is of the so-called German 
strain, but properly Florentine or Italian. 
The yellows and browns have been intro¬ 
duced through crossing with Iris flavescens 
or Iris variegata, or perhaps both. The 
first comes from the Caucasus and has 
bright light yellow flowers raised on long 
stems, showing darker yellow bearding; 
and the second is from Turkey and south¬ 
ern Russia, with deeper coloring generally, 
the outer segments of the flower, or “falls,” 
being richest, warmest brown like old port 
wine, while the inner segments, called the 
“standards,” are bright yellow veined with 
the darker shades. Once fixed in the mind, 
these species will nearly always reveal 
themselves in their hybrid ofifspring. 
With the Japanese iris we take up a 
totally different race—as different as these 
people of the Orient from whose land they 
come are different from the people of the 
western world. The plants form strong 
clumps, but the leaves are thinner and 
longer and therefore more grass-like than 
those of the sorts just considered. The 
color of the flowers never gets away from 
white, blue or purple, though wonderful 
combinations of these exist and gradations 
of color almost unbelievable; and the flow¬ 
ers themselves are immense, flat-topped 
things, hardly recognizable as iris the first 
time seen, save that there is of course a 
marked family likeness. 
In the gardens of their native land they 
not infrequently attain a diameter of 12"; 
and though they do not equal this here, 
owing perhaps to our devoting less careful 
attention to their care and feeding, they are 
enormous, and a month later in bloom than 
all other irises which we have. 
This species is Iris Kacmpferi, or Iris 
Icevigata —the names are synonyms—native 
to Japan and the eastern portion of 
Siberia. The first plants were brought 
from the Orient to Ghent away back in 
1857; but for some reason, popular interest 
in them has only recently seemed to 
awaken. In the beginning, of course, only 
the hybrids produced by the wizards of 
Japan were available; but western grow¬ 
ers have taken a hand and developed 
some lovely varieties. All from Japan 
are supposed to be vari¬ 
ations of the one species, 
bred by careful selection 
rather than by crossing, 
but the European grow¬ 
ers have hybridized la:vi- 
gata with setosa (which 
is also a Japanese species). 
English Iris and Others 
The species which we 
call English iris [Iris 
xiphoidcs) is said to be the 
longest of any in cultiva¬ 
tion, in the western world. 
It came originally from the 
Pyrenees Mountains, and 
differs from the species 
already discussed in being 
a bulbous-rooted plant. The 
Spanish iris is also bulbous 
rooted, and there are nu¬ 
merous others belonging to 
this division which are not 
generally cultivated. These 
are offered in the fall usu¬ 
ally along with other bulbs, 
for fall planting. They are 
perfectly hardy and will 
multiply rapidly when once 
established. Certainly no 
one ought to be without 
them, for there is no more 
graceful flower in the en¬ 
tire family than these two. 
I couple them, for they are 
closely allied and very 
much alike, although the 
Spanish iris shows greater 
color variety and contrast. 
This blooms earlier than 
the English, and is more 
delicate in flower and leaf. 
Its proper name is Iris 
xiphinm; but dealers list it 
as Iris Hispanica, while the 
other so-called English iris 
is sometimes dubbed Iris 
Anglica. In ordering it is 
well to remember this, for 
otherwise a catalog may not 
seem to offer either one, 
though both may be available. 
A rather recent development in the 
hybrid world is Iris interregna, a cross 
between a dwarf form—really between a 
hybrid of this dwarf form—and Iris Gcr¬ 
manica. The results of this crossing bloom 
earlier than the ordinary German iris, for 
Iris puniila, the other parent, is a sturdy 
little early blooming species of great merit 
and hardiness. Sometimes its flowers are 
purple and sometimes they take a notion to 
be yellow; and there are varieties which are 
white and deep purple and a true sky blue. 
This last, indeed, is one of the really 
{Continued on page 74) 
All irises should be naturalized, which in 
this connection does not imply “ivild” plant¬ 
ing. These two forms of Spanish iris suggest 
the considerable range of color obtainable 
