LILY FAMILY 



with brownish purple often closely cover large, ir- 

 regular areas in the open woods. Each nodding lily 

 stands up between a pair of erect and pointed leaves, 



and in a large bed only a 

 few of the plants produce 

 flowers. 



This lily is one of the 

 earliest examples that 

 April gives us of a flower 

 in whose description we 

 use the word perianth. 

 Perianth means primarily 

 the floral envelopes, 

 whether calyx or corolla 

 or both, but technically is 

 applied to such flowers as 

 the lily and the tulip, 

 whose calyx and corolla 

 are so similar in form and 

 color that the early bot- 

 anists were in doubt 

 whether the floral envel- 

 ope was all calyx or all 

 corolla, and so compro- 

 mised on the word per- 

 ianth, which means both 

 together. It is now clear 

 that the outer three are calyx and the inner three corolla, 

 but the old name is convenient and remains in use. 



Studying our lily closely, we see that the three 

 sepals are a little thicker in texture and brownish 

 yellow outside; inside they are a pure yellow with a 

 darker line where they join the stem. The three petals 



i8 



Adder's-Tongue. Erythrcnium 

 Americanum 



