144 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [Sess. lxxxvi 



The bulbs are cooked and eaten bj^ the Chinese. Once in 

 cultivation this plant was also named L. sutchuenense, Fr. 

 Those who had both plants in cultivation were divided in 

 opinion. There were some who were satisfied to regard 

 the two as the same species while others demurred. 



Thus, in the "Gardeners' Chronicle," 16th August 1913, 

 3rd series, vol. liv, Mr. Grove writes : — 



" When both lilies are cultivated under identical condi- 

 tions, the typical sutchuenense of Franchet is seen to be a 

 comparatively dwarf and delicate plant with slender, dark- 

 coloured stem, now and again perhaps a yard high, but 

 commonly a couple of feet or less. A reference to fig. 46 

 shows that it is but sparsely leaved — an important point — 

 and not floriferous ; in point of fact, though five or more 

 flowers have been recorded in cases where this lily has 

 been highly cultivated, it is usually content witli three. 

 The mature bulb is small — about the size of a peewit's egg 

 — and the stem, which is only slightly pubescent, has a 

 curious way of creeping about under the earth before 

 pushing through (see fig. 45), a peculiarity it shares, so far 

 as is known at present, only with L. Leichtlinii, L. neil- 

 gherrense and L. pltUrppinense. 



" The lily collected by Wilson, on the contrary, far from 

 being a pigmy, is a fine upstanding plant from 4 to 4| ft. 

 hifh and very floriferous ; in fact, in ordinary seasons and 

 without the stimulus of any special cultivation, it will 

 usually carry at least sixteen or seventeen blooms. These 

 are borne on pedicels a good deal longer than those of the 

 true L. sutcJiuenense, and, though the point is not of 

 importance, the pedicels are a difl'erent colour. The stem 

 is green, and as often as not is noticeably covered by 

 minute white hairs after the fashion of L. tigrinuon 

 Fortunei ; it is clothed as densely as L. yomiJoniuin with 

 long linear leaves, and this is the most characteristic 

 feature of the plant ; the stem rises straight from the bulb, 

 which is from 2-2j ins. in diameter, ivory in colour, and 

 not at all unlike a small edition of L. tigrinum." 



Can this have been L. Wilhnottiae ? 



Shortly after the issue was definitely raised by Mr. 

 Wilson when he published a description of L. IViayerae in 



