19G 



NOTES ON LILIES 



§ 1'"). "Let mo now add one or two remarks on the annual decay and 

 death of the phmt. M, ^Nfax Leichtlin says : (see pag-e 205) ' If ' Dunediri ' 

 has a correspondent in California wlio can send him a bulb of Wofhing- 

 ioniiimim carefully taken out, he will observe that his theory cannot be 

 applied to that species, for ho will find inserted in one Ion or sideway-grow- 

 ing bulb the accumulated growth of eight or ten years.' Now, to me, 

 "there is nothing extraordinary in this, for the climate and soil of California 

 are peculiarly favourable to the preservation of the phenomena alluded 

 to. Compare the equable temperature of California with the land we live 

 m. In this country we have the tein|)crature of summer and winter 

 differing by 50° or GO", liable to great extremes, such as long and 

 variable winters, and short, uncertain summers. Yet with all these 

 disadvantages I have found Lily bulbs in my underground explorations 

 with an accumulated growth of four or five years upon them. (? ':*) As to 

 the " sideward growth " of Washiufjtonianum , which seems to have struck 

 M. Leichtlin as something remarkable, he will yet find, on close exami- 

 nation, that this is characteristic of all true Lilies. 



§ l(j. '' Let your readers look at the woodcut (page 195). We have at A, 

 on the left, the scar or site of the stem of 1877 ; on the ri^ht side of it we 

 have B, the stem of 1878 ; and at C, immediately under K, the retnains of 

 its roots. On the right side of B and C wo have D, the new lulb, which 

 was destined to bloom in 1879 ; and if the new hidb were further cut away, 

 M'e would find by microscopic observation, on the right, but close to the 

 stem of the new bulb, the germ or seed-bud which was destined to grow 

 up and bloom in 1880 — all moving by a 'sideward growth' to the right, 

 one 3-ear after the other, as M. Leichtlin describes L. WaxliirKjtoniinnm. 

 Here, then, before us in that woodcut we have an accumulation of tliree 

 years' growth presented to our view at one glance, the germ or fourth 

 being unseen by the naked eye. Now let the reader picture to his mind 

 what I have seen in my underground explorations, namely, an extension 

 to the left of two more scars like A. being the sites of the old stems of 

 187G and 1875. This would make in all five years' distinct growths, 

 besides the germ, all moving in a 'sideward-growing' direction to our 

 right. Before, however, the i-eader can realise this satisfactorily, let us 

 examine the composition of that part of the plant which we see before us. 

 The old stem B and the old scales G H I (the old roots being already 

 gone) will shrink up and be entirely lost in our cold and damp soil before 

 the spring comes round, leaving no traces behind but the site in the core 

 of the old stem of 1878, as at A. Then, what becomes of the core itself? 

 This is, in reality, the question in difference between M. Leichtlin and 

 myself. I need not explain, what the stem is composed of, as it can be 

 seen, that during September, it has been fast hastening to decay, especially 

 near its base, where it is greatly shrunk up. With respect to the old scales, 

 the walls of the cells in which the sap has been stored being composed of 

 what is termed cellular tissue, resist for a time, but even these have 

 to give way in a very few months to the all powerful effects of decay, the 

 commencement of which is easily recognised on the points of the scales. 



§ 1 7. " We now come to the core. In the now hulh, the core has the appear- 

 ance of a fleshy substance, but in the old hulb it resolves itself into a kind 



