LILY FAMILY 



in early spring. By the last of June the leafy bed is 

 sending up tall, slender, leafless scapes or flower-stems 

 surmounted by clusters of oblong buds, and by July the 

 flowers begin to open. They seem to be Lilies and yet 

 they are not Lilies. For at base of each Lily-like 

 blossom is a slender tube and the six petals are clearly 

 expanded and enlarged segments of that tube. More- 

 over, the petals show differences among themselves, 

 so we call the apparent corolla a perianth with three 

 sepaloid and three petaloid divisions. 



The books call the blossom tawny orange and as 

 you look down into the cup you see a heart of dull 

 yellow which deepens at the point where the segments 

 curve, and lightens again as the color runs to the tips. 

 The result is dull orange on a base of yellow. The 

 sepaloid segments are readily distinguished by shape 

 as well as by position. The long orange filaments 

 bear anthers heavily loaded with pollen and the 

 style is a slender yellow wand four inches long, extend- 

 ing far beyond the pollen zone. Evidently cross- 

 fertilization is desired. What is to be done must be 

 done quickly, for opening under the stimulus of the 

 rising sun the blossom dies with his departing rays; 

 and the flower erst so lovely becomes a mass of decay 

 on the parent stem. These tawny lovers of the sun 

 live their own lives, freed both from the protection 

 and domination of man. They gather at the road- 

 side; you find them in the tangle with the Milkweeds 

 and the Teasel; they border the meadows; they mass 

 themselves in old dooryards; they are beautiful, wild, 

 and free. Gardeners recommend them for planting 

 among shrubbery, doubtless because of their ability 

 to take care of themselves. 



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