1 18 Fhzcers and their Pedigrees. 



better to promote proper fertilisation ; and at the 

 same time have acquired a blue pigment, to allure the 

 eyes of azure-loving bees. Others have become 

 dappled with spots to act as honey-guides, or have 

 produced brilliant variegated blossoms to attract the 

 attention of great tropical insects. Our British lilies 

 alone comprise such various examples as the lily-of- 

 the-valley, a tubular white scented species, adapted 

 for fertilisation by moths ; the very similar Solomon's 

 seal ; the butcher's broom ; the wild tulip ; the star-of- 

 Bethlehem ; the various squills ; the asparagus ; the 

 grape h\-acinth ; and the meadow saffron. Some of 

 them (for example, asparagus and butcher's broom) 

 have also developed berries in place of dry capsules ; 

 and these berries, being eaten by birds which digest 

 the pulp, but not the actual seeds, aid in the disper- 

 sion of the seedlings, and so enable the plant to 

 reduce the total number of seeds to three only, or 

 one in each ovarj-. Among familiar exotics of the 

 same family may be mentioned the hyacinth, tube- 

 rose, tulip, asphodel, yucca, and most of the so-called 

 lilies. In short, no tribe supplies us with a greater 

 number of handsome garden flowers, for the most 

 part highly adapted to a verj- advanced type of insect 

 fertilisation. 



Properly to understand the development of our 



