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LILIUM COLCHICUM. 



Colchicum-Uke Lily. 



Linnean Class— Hexanduia. Order — Monoqymia. Natural Order — Liliace.*:. 



Among hardy bulbous plants, the Lilies have long stood pre-eminent for their 

 beauty and stately grandeur; and the recent introduction of two remarkable 

 species, has invested this genus with great additional interest. Whilst many plants 

 of the order will only produce their blossoms under a combination of favourable 

 circumstances, to induce the Lilies to yield their fragrant flowers it is only necessary 

 to plant the bulbs in any tolerably rich soil, and leave them undisturbed. This may 

 be regarded as the golden ride of Lily culture, and applies equally to all bulbous 

 plants. The fleshy rootlets proceeding from the base of the bulb are extremely 

 liable to injury by removal; and as they never produce lateral fibrils, as in the 

 case of fibrous-rooted plants, it follows, that when their extremities, or spongioles, 

 are broken off, the entire rootlet decays, and the plant receives a serious check. 

 When it is necessary to remove or separate the bulbs, it should be done as soon as the 

 leaves are decayed, and before the young bulbs protrude any roots, which they do 

 long before the appearance of the leaves above ground. 



The Lilium colchieum, of which (through the kindness of Mr. Groom of Clapham) 

 we are now enabled to publish the figure, if less splendid than some others 

 of the genus, is certainly a handsome species, and well deserving of cultivation. 

 It grows to the height of three feet or more, and, coming from Siberia, is perfectly 

 hardy. Although, for convenience sake, only a single flower is shown in our plate, 

 several are borne by the same stem, the number varying with the size of the bulb. 

 It grows freely in any good garden soil, and also in peat ; though, from the 

 character of its roots, we should have imagined peat earth to be entirely unsuited to 

 this, or any other species of Lilium. 



Owing to the somewhat slow rate of increase of the bulbs of this genus, new 

 species are less rapidly disseminated, than in the case of plants readily propagated 

 by seeds; and the Lilium colchieum is, therefore, in common with several other 

 recently imported species, rather rare and expensive. It is true, that most, if not 

 all of the Lilies, ripen seed under favourable circumstances, which vegetates quickly, 

 if sown as soon as gathered ; but several years usually elapse before the bulbs are of 

 sufficient size to flower. 



Notwithstanding this drawback, however, we do not hesitate to recommend to 



