84 HERBACEOUS PLANTS 



the Cactus House. The Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria, repre- 

 senting the third section of the order, is planted in a special 

 bed near ^.Juniperus sphaerica. 



Ord. 182. TACCACEAE. Perennial stove herbs. 



Ord. 183. DIOSCOREACEAE. Yams are the starchy roots of 

 the tropical climber Dioscorea sativa, and of other species. 

 The English member of the order is the Black Bryony, Tamus 

 communis. The S. African Hottentot's Bread, or Elephant's 

 Foot, Testudinaria elephantipes, is grown in No. 12 Green-house. 



Ord. 185. LILIACEAE. The Lily order contains several 

 divisions of plants which are at first sight very unlike one 

 another e.g. Butcher's Broom, Aloes, and Onions. 



i. The Lilies proper include the Snake's Heads, Fritillaria 

 meleagris, so local in England and so abundant in the neigh- 

 bouring water-meadows of Magdalen College and at Iffley. 

 F. imperialis^ a native of Persia, imported into Constantinople 

 in the sixteenth century, obtained its name from having been 

 grown in the Imperial Garden at Vienna. Near by are the 

 Tulips and Dog-tooth Violets, Erythronium, and in a middle 

 cross-bed the Scillea, including PusMinia ; Grape Hyacinths, 

 Muscari ; Camassia esculenta ; Star of Bethlehem, Ornitho- 

 galum narbonense and pyrenaicum. The Yellow Tulip, 

 T. sylvestris, used to grow in Christ Church Meadow (p. 133). 



ii. Of the Colchicoideae we have out of doors C. byzan- 

 ticum and autumnale, the Autumn Crocus ; Veratrum ntgrum', 

 White Hellebore, much used by veterinary surgeons, is V. 

 album while in the Water-lily House are the beautiful Gloriosa 

 Lilies, of which G. rothschildiana is especially admired. 



iii. Another bed is devoted to the third or Asphodel 

 group, containing Eremurus and Hemerocallis. 



Under glass we have the New Zealand Flax, Phormium tenax ; Knip- 

 hofia in the Stove ; and in the Cactus House, the true Aloes and their 

 relations e.g. Gasteria. 



iv. The Leeks and Onions are in a long bed near the 

 Yucca, the representative of the Dracaenoideae. 



