EEYTHKONIUM 



THE BULB BOOK 



ERYTHRONIUM 



the common European and Asiatic 

 Dog's-tooth Violet (E. dens-canis) has 

 been cultivated in British gardens, and 

 it still ranks as one of the best for early 

 spring-flowering purposes. Of late 

 years several other species have been 

 introduced from the United States, 

 and have proved excellent additions to 

 our spring-flowering bulbous plants, 

 being suitable either for the ordinary 

 flower - border, for nooks in the 

 rockery, for grassland, or for natural- 

 ising amongst shrubberies, etc. 



Like bulbous plants in general, 

 most of the Erythroniums like a gritty 

 soil well enriched with leaf-mould or 

 old manure, and detest heavy cold 

 ground charged with too much 

 moisture, although they like damp 

 situations. The best time for planting 

 is between September and the end of 

 November, the cylindrical or oblong 

 bulbs being covered with about twice 

 their own depth of soil. Once planted 

 they may be allowed to remain for 

 several years in the same place, where 

 in many cases they will increase and 

 multiply without trouble. An annual 

 mulching or top-dressing of well- 

 rotted manure in autumn or winter 

 will supply fresh food to the roots, 

 and keep the plants in good flowering 

 condition. Apart from open - air 

 culture, the Dog's-tooth Violets are 

 charming plants for pot cultivation, 

 and may be grown with ease in a 

 cold greenhouse during the winter and 

 early spring months with other plants 

 like Crocuses, Scillas, Chionodoxas, 

 etc., etc. 



The following species are now 

 grown : 



E. albidum. A native of damp 

 places in the states of New York, 

 Pennsylvania, etc., having oblong 

 lance-shaped leaves, slightly mottled 

 with silvery green. The white flowers, 

 with lance-shaped reflexed segments, 

 appear in April and May, one on each 



stalk. The variety bracteatum has 

 somewhat larger leaves, and differs, 

 moreover, in having yellow flowers. 

 It inhabits the mountain regions 

 instead of the pastures. The variety 

 coloratum has deeper coloured flowers 

 than the type. 



E. americanum. This species 

 grows in the damp open woodland of 

 the Eastern United States and 

 Canada. It has stolon-bearing corms 

 like E. albidum, and larger leaves 

 mottled with greenish-purple. The 

 solitary flowers appear in April and 

 May, and are of a bright golden- 

 yellow often tinged with purple, and 

 finely dotted within at the base. 

 (Bot. Mag. t. 1113; Red. Lil. t. 194.) 



E. californicum. This is the name 

 given in Flora and Sylva, November 

 1905, p. 254, to the plant hitherto 

 known as E. giganteum, from which 

 it differs chiefly in having more than 

 one flower on a stalk, and in having 

 larger and more prominent filaments, 

 auricles, and seed-pods. It is found 

 at an elevation of 6000 to 10,000 ft. in 

 California, and is one of the finest 

 and most showy species. The leaves 

 are mottled with dull purple, and the 

 large creamy - white flowers 3 ins. 

 across are suffused with orange or 

 yellow at the base, and from one to 

 six are borne on a tall scape. (Bot. 

 Mag. t. 5714.) 



E. citrinum. A native of the Deer 

 Creek Mountain in S. Oregon, having 

 obovate lance - shaped leaves richly 

 mottled in brown. The stems usually 

 bear three lemon - yellow flowers, 

 but often more, the broadly lance- 

 shaped segments about 1 in. long 

 being strongly recurved, orange at the 

 base above the auricles, and some- 

 times suffused with pink at the tips. 



E. dens-canis. This is the common 

 Dog's-tooth Violet, found wild chiefly 

 in Central and S. Europe, although 

 forms of it extend across Asia to 



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