| IN botany this is the generic name
of a number of beautiful plants belonging to the natural
order of Iridaceae. The plants have a creeping
rootstock, or else a flat tuber, equitant leaves,
irregular flowers, and three stamens. They are
represented equally in the temperate and hotter regions
of the globe. The wild species of iris are generally
called blue-flag, and the cultivated flower-de-luce, from
the French fleur de Louis, it having been the
device of Louis VII. of France. Our commonest blue-flag, iris
versicolor, is a widely distributed plant, its
violet-blue flowers, as may be seen, upon stems one to
three feet high, being conspicuous in wet places in early
summer. The root of this possesses cathartic and diuretic
properties, and is used by some medical practitioners.
The slender blue-flag found in similar localities near
the Atlantic coast, is smaller in all its parts. A
yellowish or reddish-brown species, resembling the first
named in appearance, is found in Illinois and southward.
There are three native species which grow only about six
inches high and have blue flowers. They are found in
Virginia and southward, and on the shores of the great
lakes; these are sometimes seen as garden plants. |
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The
orris root of commerce is the product of Iris
Florentina, I. pallida, and I.
Germanica, which grow wild in the south of Europe;
the rhizomes are pared and dried, and exported from
Trieste and Leghorn, chiefly for the use of perfumers;
they have the odor of violets. The garden species of iris
are numerous, and by crossing have produced a great many
known only by garden names. The dwarf iris, I. pumila,
from three to six inches high, flowers very early and
makes good edgings to borders; the common flower-de-luce
of the gardens is I. Germanica; the
elder-scented flower-de-luce is I. sambucina.
These and many others are hardy in our climate, and
readily multiplied by division of their rootstocks. The
mourning or crape iris is one of the finest of the genus,
its flowers being very large, dotted and striped with
purple on a gray ground. The flowers of most of the
species are beautiful. Some of them have received much
attention from florists, particularly the Spanish,
English and German, or common iris, all corn-rooted
species, and all European. The Persian iris is
delightfully fragrant. The roots of all these species are
annually exported in considerable quantities from
Holland. The roasted seeds of one species have been used
as a substitute for coffee.
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