240 LILIACE.E 



14. Fritillary (FritiUdria). — Perianth bell-shaped, of 6 pieces, with a 

 nectary at the base of each ; anthers attached above their bases ; style 3-cleft 

 at the summit. Name from the Latin fritiUus, a dice-box, from the chequered 

 markings of the flower. 



1. Asparagus (Aspdragus). 



Common Asparagus (A. officinalis). — Stem herbaceous, mostly erect, 

 without spines, branched ; leaves reduced to minute scales, having in their 

 axils clusters of bristly, flexible cladodes ; rootstock creeping and perennial. 

 This is a rare wild plant ; and the origin of the vegetable so prized at our 

 tables would scarcely be thought likely to prove of any worth by him Avho 

 should find it in its native condition. It grows on some parts of our south- 

 western coast, where, though it rarely attains the dimensions of cultivated 

 specimens, it exhibits all the distinctive features which characterize it in our 

 gardens. When growing in exposed situations, it does not exceed a foot in 

 height; but in sheltered moist ravines it grows luxuriantly, and forms a 

 thicket from two to three feet high. The young shoots, in their wild state, 

 differ little from the Asparagus of the table, except that their peculiar flavour 

 is too powerful. The hair-like cladodes grow in large bundles, of a rich full 

 green colour, and the small greenish-white drooping flowers, which expand 

 from June to August, are succeeded by bright red berries containing hard 

 black seeds. The plant grows chiefly on gravelly or rocky spots near the sea. 

 It has been found on the coasts of Dorsetshire, Somersetshire, and Wales ; 

 and at Kynance Cove in Cornwall, a rock has received the name of Asparagus 

 Island, on account of its growth there. It occurs, though rarely, on Seaton 

 Links, near Edinburgh, and at Tramere in Ireland ; also in the Channel 

 Islands. 



The Asparagus was, by our fathers, called Sperage and Sparrow-grass. 

 The latter name, though used now only by the uneducated, was formerly in 

 use by the best writers in the English language, as Camden, and is, no doubt, 

 a corruption of the Greek asparagos. The Continental names seem nearly 

 related to it. Thus the French call the plant Asperge , the Germans, Spargel ; 

 the Dutch Aspergie ; the Italians, Sparragio ; the Spaniards, Esparrago. The 

 word was originally derived from the Greek "to tear," from the prickly 

 nature of some species. The A. horridus is beset with thorny spines, three 

 or four inches long, but its young shoots form a valuable vegetable to the 

 people of North Africa. 



Our cultivated Asparagus is one of the oldest and most esteemed culinary 

 vegetables ; it was a favourite dish with Cato, and was praised by Columella 

 and Pliny. The latter mentions a kind which grew on the sandy soils near 

 Kavenna, three shoots of which would weigh a pound ; and from other 

 writers, we learn that the Asparagus attained a height of from twelve to 

 twenty feet. Under the Romans, stems of this plant were procured of three 

 pounds weight — "heavy enough," says Dr. Doran, "to knock down a .slave 

 in waiting;" while "Do that as quickly as you would Asparagus," is a 

 proverb descended from Augustus. The Greeks ate their Asparagus with 

 equal zest, but it was of smaller dimensions ; and "the doctors of that day," 

 says our author, " denounced Asparagus as injurious to the sight ; but they 



