ON EREMURI 



FEW plants in our gardens are more striking than the stately History 

 Eremurus, a group of which when in bloom never fails to of the 

 arrest attention. On seeing them for the first time, the Hremuri 

 general exclamation is, " What wonderful flowers ! What are 

 they, and where do they come from ? " And it is surprising that 

 in spite of their not very recent introduction they should still be 

 comparatively little grown or known. Cut spikes are exhibited 

 at the Royal Horticultural and other flower shows, but when 

 seen thus they are bereft of more than half their charm, for their 

 true beauty is only to be appreciated when the lofty stem springs 

 from its basal fountain of handsome, broad, grey-green leaves. 



They are the Oriental cousins of our European Asphodel, a 

 flower familiar to those who, with eyes for botanical delights, 

 have travelled in Southern Italy, Sicily, or Greece in early 

 spring the " Flower of death " of the ancient Greeks. The 

 Asphodel, beautiful as is its name, is in truth somewhat dis- 

 appointing when seen for the first time solitary or in twos or 

 threes, with untidy stem and wind-bruised leaves ; but its charm 

 stands revealed when it grows in masses, shedding a pale pink 

 haze under the light shade of some sparse oak wood, when the 

 trees are bursting into their fresh spring green and the sun's 

 declining rays diffuse a soft glow through the glade. 



I know not how Eremuri grow in their Eastern homes, but 

 if they are there to be found in masses the effect must indeed be 

 glorious, for they are to the Asphodel what the Rose is to the 

 Bramble. Their range, a wide one, is from Asia Minor through 



