CORONARIEiE 317 



80. The Lily-of-the-Valley Group. 



This is one of the most extensive groups in the 

 plant realm. There are some two thousand five 

 hundred species, and two hundred genera. In this 

 Volume are described, as British types, Butcher's 

 Broom, Lily-of-the-Valley, Simethis, Crow Garlic, 

 Bluebell, Fritillary, Bog Asphodel, and Herb Paris. 

 These respectively illustrate the ten tribes into which 

 the Order Liliaceae has been divided by Hooker. 

 This arrangement includes the Order Melanthaceae 

 or Meadow Saffron Group, which was described in the 

 Introductory Volume, p. 206. 



Including so many species it is natural that the 

 group, as a whole, is cosmopolitan, but certain types 

 are characteristic of definite floral regions. 



From the Juncacese to which the group is closely 

 allied the Lily-of-the-Valley group differs in the 

 petaloid perianth, which is sepaloid in the former. 

 A few Liliaceae, however, have a sepaloid perianth. 

 A further distinction lies in the thread-like stigmas 

 of the Rush group, which is adapted to wind-pollin- 

 ation. 



The rhizomes are sympodial, and many of these 

 plants possess bulbs. Most of the Liliaceae are 

 herbaceous and many are geophytes. There are a 

 few shrubs as Butcher's Broom, which possesses 

 phylloclades, and trees as Yucca, Dracaena. They 

 frequently exhibit, in the case of the Tropical types. 



