the American Botanist 



VOL. XXIII JOLIET, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1917 No. 1 



llJithin the woods, 

 Zjufts of ground laurel, creeping underneath 

 XJhe leaves of the last summer, send their sweets 

 'Upon the chilli/ air, and by the oak, 

 XJhe souirret-cups, a graceful company, 



Jffide in their bells a soft aerial blue. 



—BRYANT. 



(W8W YORK 



THE FAIRY LILY «utanicai. 



By Willard N. Clute. 



r | 'HE fairy lily is not a favorite with the aristocratic 

 A gardener and its name is often missing from the nursery 

 catalogues and other registers of superior flowers, but it-is 

 an interesting and attractive flower, nevertheless, and well 

 worth the room it requires in some out-of-the-way spot in 

 the garden. In less pretentious circles, however, the plant 

 still finds much favor. Its bulbs are a favorite article of 

 exchange between flower-loving housewives, and one may 

 often find a colony of it flourishing in an old bucket or simi- 

 lar receptacle on the doorstep or given a more prominent 

 place among the geraniums and petunias of a cottage win- 

 dow garden. 



One of the features that make the fairy lily valuable 

 is its readiness to bloom. Often in less than a week after 

 the bulbs are placed in the soil, the first flowers are up and 



