LILY TRIBE 247 



still grew there. This botanist wandered about the spot during the whole 

 length of a midsummer day, but could discover no trace of flower or leaf ; 

 and the same result followed the researches of a botanist known to the 

 discoverer who visited the place in July of the preceding year. It was, 

 however, again found at Bournemouth during the summer of 1855 ; for 

 Mr. James Hussey says, in the Monthly Journal of that year : " I had the 

 pleasure of seeing the Simethis bicolor on the 6th of July, near Bournemouth." 

 The cause of its temporary disappearance seems to have been some disturbance 

 of the soil, in consequence of new roads having been made near the place. 

 It now appears to have become entirely extinct there. The plant was first 

 seen in its Irish locality in 1849. Mr. Hewitt Watson states that, according 

 to Dr. Harvey, the plant so lately discovered in England had been then 

 found by Mr. Thaddcus O'Mahony growing in a perfectly Avild situation, 

 on hills near Derrynano Abbey ; and that a specimen, agreeing in all respects 

 with a Portuguese one in the University Herbarium, was sent from Derry- 

 nane in the June of that year. Mr. Watson does not regard it as a native 

 of Ireland. 



The Simethis is by some writers called by its older specific name of plani- 

 folia, which seems less characteristic than that of bicolor. It is also the 

 Anfhericum jylanifolium of Linnaeus. It is not infrequently found on barren 

 heaths in the west of France. 



7. Grape Hyacinth (Muscdri). 



Starch Grape Hyacinth (M. racemdsum). — Flowers egg-shaped, droop- 

 ing, in a crowded cluster, upper ones almost sessile ; leaves linear and flaccid ; 

 bulb small, producing bulbils at its base. This is a rare plant, growing in 

 pastures and sandy places. It is considered by Dr. Brorafield to be certainly 

 indigenous in the fields about Cavenham, in Suffolk, where it is alnindant ; 

 but in some localities it is, perhaps, but "a garden flower run wild." The 

 small blossoms are dark bluish-purple, and have the odour of starch; the 

 plant abounds in slimy juice, similar to that of the Hyacinth. The stalk is 

 about a foot high, and the flowers appear in May. The French call it Jacinte 

 hotride, and the Italians, Giacinto. 



8. Onion, Leek, Garlic {Allium). 



* Stem-leaves flat, or keeled ; not holhnv. 



1. Great Round-headed Garlic, or Wild Leek (A. ampdoprasiini). — . 

 Umbels globose, compact, usually without bulbils, 3 alternate stamens deeply 

 3-cleft ; leaves linear, keeled, pointed ; spathe 1-leaved, pointed ; bulb large, 

 often with stalked bulbils around its base. This is a rare but very conspicuous 

 plant, bearing, in July, large heads of pale purple flowers, on a stem three or 

 four feet high. It has very long grass-like leaves, and, rarely, some small 

 bulbs, about as large as a black currant, appear among them. It is truly 

 wild on the cliffs of Guernsey ; but on those of Steep Holmes, where it has 

 been known to grow since the time of John Ray, it is thought by Mr. Borrer 

 to be the remains of former cultivation. It is very nearly allied to thei 

 Garden Leek {A. parr urn), but difi'ers in the clustered perennial young bulbs. 



