386 THE LILY FAMILY. 



Class II.— ENDOGENS. 

 Section 1.— PETALOID. 



CXXVL— THE LILY FAMILY. Lilidce(e. 



Foremost among the Endogens, as known to England in the wild state, 

 and as flowers of the garden and conservatory, are the incomparable 

 forms which have their type in the lily, and which are commonly 

 called by the same name. These lily-like plants are, however, a 

 very different thing from the " Liliaceas " of botanists. Agreeing 

 in many important particulars, their structure is nevertheless widely 

 diversified ; and on the other hand, species are not wanting that 

 have scarcely any external likeness to lilies, and yet are most 

 intimately related to them. Such are asparagus and the butchers' 



Fig. 198. 

 Wood Garlic. 



broom, which is a shrub with prickly leaves. The popular idea of 

 " lily" comprehends indeed not only all Endogens that have lily-like 

 flowers and foliage, but many plants that have only a suppositious 

 resemblance to lilies, such as the Nympha;acea3, or " water-lilies," 

 among Exogens (p. 81). It becomes important, therefore, to discri- 

 minate carefully between the two or even three senses in which the 

 name is apt to be used, and to bear in mind that it applies properly 

 only to the members of the particular family we are now about to 

 take under consideration. T.iken in the wide sense of the word, no 

 plants have been so universally admired and cultivated as the liliaceous 

 tribes ; they live in the poetry of every age and eveiy nation ; they 

 carry the regalia of the kingdom of flowers ; the highest and holiest 

 teaching the world has ever known, enjoins us to " consider the lilies 

 of the field." 



