“ * 
Miraculosa is another outstanding Iris with its tall stalks each bear- 
ing several large pale-lavender or white flowers. A single prominent 
bright-yellow crest stands out in contrast to the light color of the. se- 
pals. Atrocyanea is a related form with somewhat smaller flowers, but . 
of a dark violet-blue color. 
In the two years following the publication of these original seven 
discoveries, Dr. Small and Edward J. Alexander, also of the New York 
Botanical Garden, have continued their studies and late in 1931 pub- 
lished their “Botanical Interpretation of the Iridaceous Plants of the 
Gulf States.” In this publication a total of 96 species are described, 85 
of which are native to Southern Louisiana. Including the color phases 
recognized up to 1930, which list has been continually growing since, 
already over 200 distinguishable forms are indicated. Mr. Alexander, 
in his color notes and descriptions summarizes these as follows: 
“six various shades of violet-blue, with about fifteen different com- 
binations of crest and color; 
four various shades of lavender-blue, with about twelve different 
combinations of crest and color; 
eleven various shades of violet, with about forty different combina- 
tions of crest and color; 
seventeen various shades of red violet, with about thirty five different 
combinations of crest and color; 
fourteen various shades of lilac, with about twenty- ae different com- 
binations of crest and color; 
nine various shades of cerise and magenta with about eighteen diffe- 
rent combinations of crest and color; 
fifteen various shades of pink and old-rose, with about twenty diffe- 
rent combinations of crest and color; 
twenty-six various shades or red, orange-red, and orange, with about 
thirty-five different combinations of crest and color.” 
Dr. Small’s technical classification is based primarily on the form of 
the crest which may be absent, single, double, triple, lance-shaped, 
crown-shaped, or radiating, and secondarily upon the color and _ other 
characteristics of the flowers. 
Among the outstanding .color forms recently discovered are a_ rich 
imperial purple, an ivory-white, a chrome-yellow, and a golden-yellow. 

*It is suggested that the large number of Iris species, which may be 
called native to the Delta of the Mississippi, are the result of countless 
ages of the floating down of plant life from the upper reaches of the 
Mississippi river and its tributaries. It is well known that drifting bogs 
and patches of soil, and vegetation generally, have been floating down 
this great river system for many centuries. This inference is plain, 
therefore, that the large number of native Iris species in Louisiana may 
be called a natural collection of species from the vast teritory drained 
by the greatest system of rivers in the world. In this connection note 
that it is stated that some of these Iris species. when taken North seem 
to do well in a habitat entirely different from that which they find in 
the Delta of the Mississippi. 
MADISON COOPER 
(REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF “THE FLOWER GROWER”) 
