T. Oculus Solis (which, however, belongs to quite a different section of the 

 genus). It has not, at least .~n ;wild state, the fine yellow edging of the eye of 

 Oculus Solis. Filaments and anthers black. 



No. 1. T. scabrisc. var. mixta. This varies from the state of 4'<raregi<Za<«, 

 with the addition of a few yellow dots, to the pied condition well represented in 

 the plate. But it is remarkable that although an evident variety, the plants 

 brought from their native soil have never varied back into the pure states of Nos. 

 4 and 3. nor are those two varieties found in the same locality with this. It 

 multiplies the most readily of all by offsets, and is a sure flowerer, but one of the 

 latest. It is the only one of the wild tulips cultivated in Florence for beauty. 

 In its wild state it is slender, but becomes stronger and larger by cultivation. It 

 has only been found in olive grounds east of Florence, and south of the Arno, 

 between Villa Rusciana and the Bosco Rondinelli, well known to the botanists of 

 Florence. 



No. '2. T. scabrisc. var. Buonarrotiana. This is in many respects the 

 most remarkable of the four. It is much the largest and stoutest plant, has a 

 uniform tawny buff colour, not bright enough to be called orange, and has a 

 faint but heavy and honeylike smell. In this respect, as well as its tendency (in 

 cultivation) to become variegated in blots and patches like Gesneriana, and not in 

 dots or specks like the three former varieties, it might be taken as the wild 

 original of the well known Van Toll or Dutch sweet-scented Tulip. That too 

 has pointed petals and a rough stalk, and I have no doubt is naturally connected 

 with or derived from this division of Tulips in some way or other. But it is a 

 dwarf to T. sc. Buonarrotiana. This was discovered some years ago by M. 

 Reboul, in the olive-grounds of the Villa Buonarroti, at Settignano, four miles 

 east of Florence on the north side of the Arno. He named it in honour of the 

 great Michael Angelo Buonarroti,* and described it as it is, ''coloro vitellino," in 

 a single sheet descriptive of the wild Tulips of Florence as far as then nivestigated, 

 which he printed several years ago. It is certainly the scarcest of the four 

 varieties. 



These four Tulips agree in the form of their flowers, which are elegantly cup- 

 shaped, well expressed in the figure No. 3, petals pointed, though less so than in 

 O. Solis ; germen prismatic, stigma overhanging, not so large as in Gesneriana, 

 bulb smooth, .scape rough, pubescent, or even hairy in strong plants, in which 

 they differ from all other Tulips. The petals of all have two strong furrows down 

 the middle. Their leaves are glaucous, more or less undulated. They may 

 possibly be the original stock of a tribe of second rate garden tulips, neglected 

 for the more showy varieties of T. Gesneriana, which are met with in some of 

 our gardens, and which betray their origin by their pointed petals, honey smell, 

 and more or less pubescence on the stalk. 



Of these garden varieties the Van Toll has been noticed ; those that are in 

 cultivation at Florence are either the improved No. \.7nixta, or a large very 

 double sort, of a mixture of white, pink, and green pointed petals, short scape, 

 smooth as far down as one or two green or partly coloured leaves like bracteoe, 

 and rough below them, where the true scape begins ; the upper smooth part 

 with its leaves (detached petals) being in fact a monstrous, elongated flower; 

 also some English or Dutch, pink or lilac, and white with pointed petals, and 

 stalks pubescent towards the base ; that called the early Edgar is one of this set. 

 In cottage gardens in the West of England are often seen two varieties that can 

 only be referred to this class of Tulips : one is exactly the strangulata of Flo- 

 rence with a perfectly smooth stalk ; the other a handsome variety of the same, 

 havhig the black and yellow eye of O. Solis, from which, however, it differs in 

 every important character. 



These pointed petaled Tulips are frequently introduced into Italian paintings : 

 and in the gallery Gualtieri at Orvieto are six oblong pictures of flowers, with the 

 date 1614, in which many of these tulips are represented; besides other flowers, 

 with the Italian names of that time." 



* This villa still lemains in the Buonarroti family ; and there is a spirited sketch of 

 a Satyr, drawn witii a hot iron upon a door within the house, which is attributed to the 

 great Michael Augelo. 



