52 THE FLORIST AND POMOLOGIST. [MARCH, 



amongst imported bulbs, and figured in the work here quoted as L. auratum 

 rubriim, differs from the type in having the broad baud of yellow which runs 

 down the centre of each segment, exchanged for one of a deep dull or brownish- 

 red, more or less merging into yellow towards the base. Numerous gradations 

 of this have been observed, and some of the most marked have been exhibited 

 and rewarded as distinct forms ; such are the sijlendidum of Messrs. Cutbush, of 

 Highgate ; the Charles Turner^ of Mr. Turner of Slough ; and the rubrtun above 

 referred to, and which was cultivated by M. Vilmorin. In a bed of some 5,000 

 bulbs of this lily, partly seedlings, which we have watched, during the past two 

 seasons, at the Knap Hill Nursery, a considerable number, fully five per cent., 

 were of this red-banded form, the colour of the band varying much in 

 intensity. 



L. AURATUM viRGiNALE. — This is a well-marked variety, and was also 

 obtained amongst the bulbs imported from Japan. It is remarkable for having 

 the flowers pure white, that is to say, without the golden band, and with the 

 purple spots exchanged for yellow ones, which are not at all conspicuous. The 

 absence of the band gives it a very distinct appearance. A similar form 

 has been cultivated under the name of Alexandra^ by Mr. Cripps, of Tun- 

 bridge Wells. 



Besides these, numerous variations of a lesser degree occur amongst the im- 

 ported bulbs received from Japan. Thus, occasionally, sem.idouble flowers appear ; 

 again, the spotting instead of being purple is sometimes crimson, or instead of 

 being thickly it is sometimes sparsely distributed, or instead of being oblong or 

 punctiform it is more or less linear. The yellow band, moreover, varies in breadth 

 and intensity of colour ; and even the form of the flower and breadth of the seg- 

 ments offer considerable diversity ia different plants, these differences being, no 

 doubt, owing to the plants being of seedling origin. 



The plant is found to be perfectly hardy in congenial soil, and flowers grandly 



in the open air from well-established bulbs. We have seen plants with at least 30 



flowers on a stem not over 3 ft. high ; and the late Mr. Neilson, of Falkirk, has 



recorded one growing in his garden, which, after being three years in the ground 



undisturbed, bore, in 1870, a stem 7i- ft. high, 3 J in. in circumference at a foot 



from the ground, and which supported 70 blooms, forming a cone 2h ft. deep and 



4| ft. round, resembling a colossal Hyacinth. Some remarkable specimens have 



also been produced under pot-culture ; suffice it here to mention two : that grown 



at Quarry Bank, near Liverpool, from a single bulb obtained in 1865, and which, in 



August, 1871, growing then in a 24-in. pot, had numerous stems 9 ft. high, was 



8^ ft. wide, and bore 225 expanded flowers averaging 10 in. in diameter, of 



which a woodcut appears in the Gardeners^ Chronicle^ 1873, 215 ; and that 



grown at Melchet Court, and exhibited in 1869, which had also been grown onfrom 



a single bulb, and had at that time eleven flowering-stems, each about 8 ft. high, 



and bore in the aggregate 152 flowers, of which 130 were then fully expanded. 



— T. MOOEE. 



