sent by Major Madden some five or six years ago; but it has 
only now for the first time blossomed in Europe. The bulb 
was treated in the ordinary way without heat. Baron Hiigel 
found the plant in the Peer Punjil pass of the Himalaya, leading 
into Kashmeer; and we believe that Drs. Thomson and Hooker 
met with it abundantly in other portions of that vast range of 
hills. The remainder of our account shall be taken from Dr. 
Balfour’s notes, chiefly drawn up from the living plant at Comely 
Bank. 
“Major Madden says the Lilium giganteum is common in 
the damp thick forests of the Himalaya, the provinces of Ka- 
maon, Gurwhal, and Busehur, in all of which he has frequently 
met with it. It grows in rich black mould, the bulb close to the 
surface, at from 7500 to 9000 feet above the level of the sea, 
where it is covered with snow from November to April, or there- 
abouts. The hollow stems are commonly from six to nine feet 
high, and are used for musical pipes. he fruit ripens in No- 
vember and December. 
“Descr. Stem straight, cylindrical, smooth, gradually atte- 
nuated to the apex, nearly ten feet high, five and a half inches in 
circumference at the base, green with a reddish-purple hue at the 
upper part.. Leaves alternate, scattered, the internodes varying 
in length, petiolate, broadly ovate, cordate, acuminate, shining 
dark green above, paler below, venation reticulated, having an, 
evident midrib, with the veins coming off from it ending in an 
intra-marginal vein ; lower leaves with long petioles, very large, 
ten to twelve inches long, eight inches broad, becoming gradually 
smaller in ascending; upper leaves small, sessile, ovate, acute- 
Petioles of lower leaves twelve to fourteen inches long, thick, 
broad and somewhat sheathing at the base, lower surface convex, 
upper with a deep and broad furrow ; petioles of upper leaves short. 
Bracts ovate, acute, caducous, leaving a semilunar scar. Powers 
white, with purple sheaths, greenish below, infundibuliform-cam- 
panulate, inclined downwards, twelve on the raceme, fragrant ; 
tube greenish, two inches in circumference at the base, gradually 
dilating upwards ; limb slightly revolute ; leaves of the perianth 
oblong-spathulate, three outer with slight purple streaks inside, 
three inner rather broader, with a deep purple tinge on the inside, 
and with a prominent ridge on the outside, sulcated on either side, 
and two elevated ridges on the inner surface separated by a shal- 
low groove. Peduncles round, thick, from a quarter to one inch in 
length, greenish-purple. Sfamens and pistil included. Stamens 
six, three outer longer ; anther versatile; pollen yellow. Pistil 
shorter than long stamens, style ending in a large compresse 
stigma.” Balfour. 
— 
Fig. 1. Pistil:—wnatural size. 
