INTRODUCTORY 3 



The plants that are written about here are what are 

 known as the true Lilies. These have no close relation- 

 ship with other plants popularly called Lilies, such as 

 Water Lily, Lily of the Valley, Mariposa Lily, St Bruno's 

 Lily, and so forth, but are a distinct family or genus 

 differing more or less from other genera in the same 

 natural order to which they belong the Liliaceae. 



All the species are herbaceous, that is they never 

 have woody stems. All are perennial, that is they have 

 bulbs that produce continuous growth from year to year 

 though the stems are of annual duration. The bulbs 

 differ from those of most other bulbous plants because they 

 are composed of more or less fleshy scales attached to a 

 central axis or depressed stem. This fact underlies the 

 whole secret of Lily culture, for the bulb scales con- 

 stitute the most vital parts, as they protect and sustain 

 the bud or germ, which is the seat of active growth. 



If these protecting and feeding bulb scales are main- 

 tained in a healthy condition, all is well with the plant 

 beyond the influences which control the growth above 

 ground. 



These scaly bulbs are the reason why Lilies are 

 more difficult to cultivate and more susceptible to injury 

 than other classes of bulbs which, like the Onion, Daffodil, 

 Tulip, Snowdrop, are provided with scaleless or what 

 is technically termed tunicated (coated) bulbs. In such 

 bulbs the parts analogous to the bulb scales in Lilies 

 consist of fleshy tunics or coverings of the central axis 

 which is enwrapt by them. Consequently all bulbs 

 bearing scales instead of tunics are more difficult to 

 deal with under culture. 



Some of the Fritillaries have likewise scale-bearing 

 bulbs exemplified by the Crown Imperial (F. imperialist 

 and similarly to the Lilies some of the species are ex- 

 tremely difficult to cultivate, as, for instance, the Scarlet 

 Fritillary of California (F. recurva). 



