2000 



LILIUM speci6sum. 



The Crimson Japan Lily. 



HEXANDRIA UONOGYNIA. 



Nat. Ord. Liliace^. 



LILIUM. Suprd, vol.2, fol. 132. 



L. speciosum ; caule erecto ramoso glabro, foliis sparsis ovato-oblongis nervosis 

 petiolatis, ramis unifloris, flore cernuo reflexo, coroUis revolutis intus papil- 

 loso-barbatis. Morren Notice sur un Lis du Japan, p. 2. 



L. speciosum. Thunb in act. linn.2. '3'd2. H'illd. sp. pL2.Sti. " Encycl. 

 regn. vecj. pars. 1. t. 1. Horticiilteur Beige, March 1833, t. 1." 



L. superbum. Thunb. fl. jap. 134. 



Kasbiako vulgo Konokko Juri. Kczmpf. amcen. 871. Banks ic.KcBmpf. t. 47. 



All the Lilies previously seen in Europe, however beauti- 

 ful they may be, are quite thrown into the shade by this 

 glorious species, for which we have to thank Dr. von Siebold, 

 who introduced it to Holland from Japan. Not only is it 

 handsome beyond all we before knew in gardens, on account 

 of the clear, deep rose-colour of its flowers, which seem all 

 rugged with rubies and garnets, and sparkling with crystal 

 points, but it has the sweet fragrance of a Petunia. Well 

 might Ksempfer speak of it as " flos magnificae pulchritu- 

 dinis," for surely if there is any tiling not human, which is 

 magnificent in beauty, it is this plant. 



Beyond its own country it has no rival ; but in Japan 

 there are others that will scarcely yield even to it. Kaempfer 

 tells us of tlie Oni Juri, or Devil's Lily, with a showy flower, a 

 span in breadth, the flowers all stained and mottled with 

 crimson and purple, and minium ; of the Fime Juri, a dwarf 

 species, daggled with marks of blood, its purple flowers 

 moreover spotted with crimson ; and of the FiJuri, or Fiery 



VOL. XXIII. M 



