390 THE LILY FAMILY. 



6, Solomon's Seal — {Convalldria multiflora.) 

 Railway bank at Sale. (Mr. Hunt.) Mottram. (Mr. Sidebotham.) 



Fl. May. 



Curtis, iii.478 ; E. B, iv. 279. 



A handsome and very singular plant, common in gardens, especially in those 

 of cottagers, where it is often seen growing in dense patches of twenty or thirty 

 stems. 



The garden and green-house Liliacese give to spring and early summer the 

 half, at the very least, of their floral beauty. There are five principal tribes, 

 distinguishable as follows : — 



1. Versatiles. Flowers large and gaily coloured, the sepals and petals free, the 

 filaments of the stamens thick and hard, but with fine drawn points on which the 

 anthers are elegantly balanced or " versatile," so as to swing to and fro : fruit 

 a dry capsule : roots bulbous or tuberous. Here belong the brilliant tuhps, — 

 Tarieties of the Tulipa Gesneridna and Clusidna, and the early fragi'ant species 

 called the " Van Thol," or Tulipa suaveolens ; also the " dog's-tooth violet,'' or 

 Erythronmm, Dens-canis, the ci'own-imperial, and other species of the beautiful 

 genus Fritilldria, together -svith all the flowers legitimately called "lihes," or 

 those of the genus Lilium, such as the large white Lilium candidum, or " garden 

 queen," the orange-lily, the martagon, the Turk's-cap, and the superb Japan lily, 

 or Lilium tpeciosum. 



2. Day-lilies, or HemerocalUdece. These have the calyx and corolla so united as 

 to form a long and conspicuous tube, the extremities of the segments alone 

 remaining free. The fruit is a dry capsule, and the roots are generally fibrous. 

 The chief species are the day-lilies, Hemerocdllis fldva and H. carulea, and the 

 lovely Agapdnthus, the flower-stalk of which rises two or three feet high, and 

 bears a large blue umbel upon the summit. 



3. HyacinthiruB. These have the sepals and petals very slightly or not at all 

 united, while the anthers are immoveable, the roots bulbous, and the fruit 

 capsular. The matchless hyacinth, or Hyacinthus orientdlis, in its countless 

 varieties; the deep-blue squills, or Scilla bifolia, Scilla Sibirica, Scilla cam- 

 panul&ta, &c., the grape hyacinth, the curious Muscari, the LaohenMias, and a 

 second kind of Star of Bethlehem, called Ornithogalum mitans, (Curtis, iii. 475.) 

 are the chief ornamental representatives. Onions, leeks, garlic, chives, and shal- 

 lots, all of which belong to the genus Allium, hold an equally important place in 

 the kitchen-garden. The Allium Moly, distinguished by its large umbels of yellow 

 blossoms, occurs not infrequently in flower-borders. 



4. Asphodels, or Anthericea. The flowers, anthers, and fruit in this section 

 are like those of the I£yacinthin<e, but the roots are not bulbous. The only 

 kinds in common cultivation are the Anthericum Lilidstrum and the Anthiricum 

 Lilidgo, both with star-like flowers of a pure white. Narttiicium Aviericduum 

 occurs in curious collections, and now and then the AapMdelus ramosus. 



6. Berry fruited, or Convalldriecc. The point of resemblance in this section 

 consists in the genera having a berry for their fruit, instead of a dry and many 

 seeded capsule, as in all the former. In otlior respects they ditTer widely, and 



