PLATE XVI. 



1. CONVALLAR1A MAJALIS. 



LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



THIS genus contains plants of the hardy herbaceous perennial 

 flowery kind. Lily of the Valley, and Solomon's Seal. 



It belongs to the class and order Hexandxia Monogynia, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Sarmentacece. 



The characters are: that there is no calyx: the corolla is mono- 

 petalous, bell-shaped, smooth : border six-cleft, obtuse, open re- 

 flected : the stamina consist of six subulate filaments, inserted into 

 the petal, shorter than the corolla: anthers oblong erect: the pistil- 

 lum is a globose germ : style filiform, longer than the stamens: stig- 

 ma obtuse, three-cornered: the pericarpium is a globose berry, three- 

 celled, before maturity spotted: the seeds are solitary or in pairs, 

 and roundish. 



The species cultivated are: 1. C. maialis, Sweet-scented Lily of 

 the Valley ; 2. C. polygonatum, Single-flowered Solomon's Seal ; 

 3. G. multiftora, Many- flowered Solomon's Seal ; 4. C. verticillata, Nar- 

 row-leaved Solomon's Seal; 5. C. racemosa, Cluster-flowered Solo- 

 mon's Seal. 



The first has a perennial root, with numerous round fibres trans- 

 versely wrinkled, creeping horizontally just below the surface to a 

 considerable distance. The whole plant is smooth. Four or five 

 alternate, oblong, blunt, slightly nerved, purplish scales surround 

 and bind together the base of the leaves and stalk. There are two 

 leaves, petioled, elliptic or lanceolate, pointed at each end, from four 

 to five inches long, and near an inch and half broad in the middle, 

 quite entire, upright, smooth, nerved, one usually larger, of a 



