34 



THE BOOK OF THE LILY 



thrive better if planted out in a greenhouse in a moist bed 

 of peaty soil in a light position, but not where the plants 

 would be scorched in summer. 



L. pardalinum (Panther Lily). Of the Californian 

 Lilies this is the finest and most valuable as a garden 

 plant, being very hardy, a robust grower, and particu- 

 larly stately and graceful in growth. Where it develops 

 perfectly it has stems as tall as nine feet, and these often 

 bear as many as twenty and thirty flowers on a stem. 

 The tall stems have whorls of deep green leaves at 

 intervals, and in a breeze they wave about in a graceful 

 way. 



The flowers begin to expand from the base of the 

 clusters upwards, so that there is a succession of ex- 

 panded and opening flowers for two or three weeks. 

 The flowers are large, but the petals being strongly 

 recurved, they do not appear as large as they really are. 

 The colour varies in the several varieties. In what is 

 regarded as the typical form the petals have the lower 

 parts bright orange and spotted with red, and the rest 

 bright red or scarlet. 



There are several named varieties, differing more or 

 less from each other and from the type, and the follow- 

 ing comprise those in cultivation : 



angustifolium, a well-marked variety of slender growth 

 with leaves very narrow compared with other varieties. 

 The flowers are similar to those of the type, a rich 

 orange red heavily spotted with brown. 



Bourg&i, a robust growing form with flowers more 

 deeply coloured than the type. 



californicum has the scarlet of the petals extending 

 half-way down the petals. 



luteum has orange-yellow flowers spotted crimson but 

 without the scarlet tips to the petals. 



Michauxii or Ellacombei, a smaller grower than the 

 type, and commences to flower about a fortnight later. 



