490 



LILIACEiE 



leaves and globular, 6-merous -flowers in a stalked, bracteate 

 raceme ; stamens included ; fruit a 3-chambered capsule. (Name 

 from the musk-like scent ) 



I. M. racemosum (Grape, or Starch, Hyacinth). — Leaves slender, 

 prostrate, semicylindric, 6 — 12 in. long; scape shorter, bearing a 

 short, cylindric, many-flowered, dense raceme of small, dark blue, 



ovoid flowers with minute 

 bracts, the stalks lengthen- 

 ing after flowering. — Sandy 

 fields in the eastern coun- 

 ties ; rare. — - Fl. April, 

 May. Perennial. 



9. SciLLA (Squill). — 

 Herbaceous plants with 

 tunicate bulbs ; radical, 

 linear leaves; flowers 6- 

 merous, in a raceme ; 

 perianth - segments free, 

 spreading, blue, purple, or 

 white, deciduous ; fruit a 

 3-chambered, many-seeded 

 capsule. (Name, the Clas- 

 sical Latin name of the 

 group.) 



I. S. autumndlis 

 (Autumnal Squill). — A 

 little plant with a bulb the 

 size of a walnut ; leaves 

 3 — 6 in. long, appearing in 

 autumn after the shortly 

 racemose, reddish-purple 

 flowers ; bracts absent ; 

 periantJi - segments free, 

 spreading ; antfiers purple. 

 — Dry pastures, especially 

 near the sea, in the south ; 



SCILLA VfiRiMA {I'l'mnl S't^u//^. 



Fl. July-October. Perennial. 



rare.- 



2. S. verna (Vernal Squill) 



A lovely little plant, about the 

 same size as the last ; with leaves broader and produced in spring 

 before the corymbose clusters of fragrant, blue, star-like flowers, 

 which have lanceolate bracts. — Sea-coast in the west and north ; 

 uncommon. The turfy slopes of the sea-coast of Cornwall are in 

 many places as thickly studded with these pretty flowers as inland 



