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| Tall Bearded Iris botanical print |
"Who broils in loud applause, and make him fall
His crest that prouder than blue Iris bends."
- Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Scene 3
Today the Iris is a name given to a genus of about 300 different species, however the genus was only created in 1753 by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. During the 16th and 17th centuries a much smaller number of plants bore the name of Iris. Those familiar to an Elizabethan gardener would have included:
