NAT. ORDER. 



Liliaceoe. 



SCILLA CAMPANULATA. COMMON SQUILL. 



Class VI. Hexandria. Order I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, five-parted. Corolla, six-petalled, spreading and 



deciduous. Filaments, thread-like. 

 Spe. Char. Floivers, naked, with refracted bracteas. 



The I'oot is large, perennial, bulbous, coated, of a reddish hue, 

 abounding with a tenacious juice, and furnished with many white 

 fibres, which issue from its base ; the stem is round, smooth, succulent, 

 and rises two or three feet in height ; the leaves are sword-shaped, 

 radical, smooth, pointed, long, and of a deep green color ; the Jloicers 

 are whitish, produced in a long, close spike, upon purplish peduncles, 

 and appear in April and May ; the bracteas are linear, twisted, and 

 deciduous ; calyx none ; the corolla is composed of six petals, which 

 are ovate, patent, with a reddish mark in the middle ; the filaments 

 are six, tapering, shorter than the corolla, and furnished with 

 oblong anthers, placed transversely ; the germen is roundish, support- 

 ing a simple style about the length of the filaments, and furnished with 

 a simple stigma ; the cajjsule is oblong, smooth, marked with three 

 furrows, and divided into three cells, which contain many roundish 



seeds. 



This plant is a native of Spain, Sicily and Syria, growing in sandy 

 situations on the sea coast, and hence its name. It was first cultiva- 

 ted in England about the year 1648. There are several varieties of 

 the Squill, but there is not found to be any very essential difference in 

 their sensible or medicinal properties, and the distinction seems merely 



Vol. III.— 14fl. 



