DESCRIPTIVE AND CULTURAL NOTES 15 



direct rays of the sun. It has stems from two to three 

 feet high, with regular whorls of leaves. The flowers 

 are broadly funnel-shaped, drooping, and about two and 

 a half inches long, and several are borne on each stem. 

 In flower colour there is a good deal of variation from 

 yellow to deep red. The varieties jlavum and rubrum 

 are yellow and deep red respectively, and there are 

 intermediate shades. It flowers in July and August. 



L. candidum. The common White or Madonna Lily is 

 regarded by most Lily lovers as the most beautiful of the 

 genus. Being one of the oldest of English garden 

 plants and so common, it is known to every one, and 

 many a cottage garden in country places provides from 

 it in June and July such a floral display such as one 

 seldom sees in mansion gardens, where it is often a 

 failure, caused, it is generally understood, by some 

 fungoid disease. Important advice to all who attempt to 

 grow this Lily is to leave it alone when once established, 

 as it much resents disturbance at the roots. Cottagers 

 do not disturb the bulbs, and this is why they succeed 

 where gardeners fail. If necessary to transplant, this 

 should be done immediately the flower stems die down 

 that is to say, in the month of August, for in the case 

 of L. candidum not only the roots but the leaf growth 

 becomes active about this time. The purest white- 

 ness of the flowers is intensified by the yellow anthers, 

 while their delicious fragrance is not equalled by any 

 other Lily. 



The Madonna Lily is a native of Southern Europe, 

 and was introduced as long ago as 1596. There are 

 several varieties, viz.,fo/iis aureo-marginatis, leaves deeply 

 bordered with golden yellow ; spicatum, known also as 

 flore plenum and monstrosum, is a curious, but not 

 attractive form, the petals being almost suppressed ; 

 striatum has the flower streaked with purple ; and 

 peregrinum has a purplish stem and narrow leaves and 



