GARLIC 117 



it three days, and was at last the victor, but was badly wounded, and 

 wherever his blood flowed lilies of the valley sprang up. It was 

 regarded as symbolic of the return of happiness, and as to its per- 

 fume of sweetness Keats says: 



" No flower amid the garden fairer grows 

 Than the sweet lily of the lowly vale, 

 The Queen of flowers ". 



Its snow-white beauty symbolizes purity. It is gathered by all on 

 Whit Monday in Hanover, where it is called May Bloom. A person 

 who plants a bed of lilies will die during the next twelve months, so it 

 is considered unlucky. 



The flowers are fragrant when fresh, but when dry are narcotic. 

 Powdered, the plant induces sneezing. It is purgative, and bitter as 

 aloes when an extract from the roots is prepared. 



Lime is used to prepare a green colour from the leaves. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



300. Convallaria majalis, L. Scape semi-cylindrical, radical leaves 

 paired, lanceolate, ovate, flowers white, campanulate, in a raceme, 6-12, 

 berry red. 



Garlic (Allium ursinum, L.) 



The distribution of this beautiful but strong-smelling liliaceous plant 

 is quite modern, being the N. Temperate Zone in Europe, except 

 Greece and N. Asia. In Great Britain it is found in the Peninsula, 

 Channel, Thames, Anglia, and Severn provinces; in S. Wales, except 

 in Cardigan; in N. Wales, except in Montgomery; in the Trent pro- 

 vince, except in S. Lines; in the Mersey, Humber, Tyne, and Lakes 

 provinces; and in the West and E. Lowlands, except in Elgin; in the 

 W. Highlands, except in Mid Ebudes; in the N. Highlands; and in 

 the Hebrides only in the Northern Isles. It is general elsewhere from 

 Skye and Ross to the English Channel, and in Yorks rises to 1200 ft. 

 It is native in Ireland. 



Garlic is a decidedly local though widespread plant, Watson having 

 only met with it once in North Britain, and not in Surrey, where it is 

 common. It grows in damp hollows in woods and copses, and also in 

 shady lanes under hedges, and in hedgerows in fields where there is 

 plenty of cover. 



Garlic grows from a bulb. This tends to bury itself deeper and 

 deeper in the soil. Garlic has much the habit of Lily-of-the-Valley, 

 with radical leaves, solid, flat, lance-shaped, stalked, few, broad, and 



