CLASS VI. ORDKRI.J SCILLA. 477 



GENUS XL SOIL' LA. LINN. Squill. 



Nat Ord. ASPHO'OELE^E. R. BROWN. 



GKN. CHAR. Perianth of six equal deciduous generally spreading 

 pieces. Filaments thread-shaped, smooth, inserted in the base of 

 the perianth. Fruit a three celled capsule, with roundish seeds. 

 Name crxuXXw, Sea Onion, or Squill. 



1. -S. ver'na. Huds. (Fig. 541.) Vernal Squill. Bulb roundish, 

 coated ; leaves long, erect, linear, channeled ; flowers in a hemi- 

 spherical corymb ; bracteas lanceolate, as long as the peduncles. 



English Botany, t. 23. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 145. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 161. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 269. 



Bulb roundish, white, coated with numerous loose thin brownish 

 membranous envelopes, and with a dense tuft of woolly fibrous roots. 

 Leaves numerous, dark green, smooth and shining, long, linear, chan- 

 neled, tapering at the base, and obtuse at the point. Scape round, 

 smooth, erect, about four inches high, as long as the leaves. Inflo- 

 rescence a terminal racemose corymb, of an hemispherical form, mostly 

 few flowered, of a deep purplish blue colour, each flower arising from 

 the bosom of a thin pale membranous lanceolate bractea, as long as the 

 slender round peduncles. Perianth of six ovate-lanceolate concave 

 spreading pieces, keeled at the back. Stamens inserted opposite the 

 segments of the perianth, on thin membranous filaments, dilated down- 

 wards, and with dark peltate two celled anthers, bursting laterally. 

 Style erect, as long as the stamens, with an obtuse stigma. Capsule 

 roundish, crowned by the persistent base of the style, three angled, 

 three furrowed, three celled, each cell with several seeds. 



Habitat. Sea coasts and maritime cliffs of England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland, especially in the west and northern parts ; and abundant in 

 the Orkneys and Shetland Isles. Mr. P. Neill. 



Perennial ; flowering in April and May. 



2. S. bifo'lia, Linn. (Fig. 542.) Two-leaved Squill. Bulb oblong, 

 coated ; leaves two, linear, lanceolate, channeled, recurved ; flowers in 

 a lax corymbose raceme; scape round; peduncles erect, without 

 bractea. 



English Botany, t. 24. English Flora, vol. ii. p. 146. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 161. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 269. 



Bulb oblong, coated with dark brown membranous envelopes, and 

 with slender fibrous roots. Leaves two, sometimes three, of a dark 

 smooth shining green, linear lanceolate, striated, channeled, narrowed 

 towards the base, and obtusely pointed, recurved or spreading, from 

 two to three inches high. Scape round, smooth, erect, about the same 

 length as the leaves. Inflorescence a lax sub-corymbose raceme, of 

 a few palish blue flowers, on smooth erect peduncles, without any 

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