LILIACEAE. 



71 



1. Aloe vera L. Aloes. Common Aloes. 

 (Fig. 98.) Acaulescent, or nearly so, stolo- 

 uiferous. Leaves l°-2° long, narrowly lanceo- 

 late, long-acuminate, turgid, very watery 

 within, pale glaucous-green, the marginal 

 spiny teeth V apart or less; scape stout, 2°- 

 3^° high, bearing distant, broad, acute scales; 

 raceme dense, 4'-12' long; bracts lanceolate, 

 acute, longer than the short pedicels; flowers 

 yellow, about 1' long; stamens about as long 

 as the perianth, the style longer. [A. vulgaris 

 Lam.] 



Waste grounds and woodlands. Escaped 

 from cultivation and naturalized. Native of the 

 Mediterranean region. Flowers in summer. 

 Called Bxi.MBOO, according to Lefroy. 



Aloe soccotrina Lam., Bitter Aloes, is 



occasionally cultivated, as well as a few other 



African species, interesting as ornamentals. 



Aloe lingua Hook, is mentioned by Jones. 



Medeola virginica L., Cucumber Root, a 



North American plant of the related family 



Trilliaceae, with a whorl of 4 to 10 leaves 



under an umbel of small greenish flowers, 



is said, by Lefroy, to be " a small annual weed 



found under walls," but this appears to be an 



error in record or determination. 



Allium Cepa L., Onion, is one of the most important food-crops of 

 the islands, and the bulbs are largely exported, although the industry is 

 not nearly as extensive as it was some years ago. Lefroy states that 



over 4,000 tons were exported in 1875. 



Lilium longiflorum Thunb., Easter Lilt, White Japanese Lily, is ex- 

 tensively grown for export in a race (L. Harrisii Carr.) sometimes said to have 

 originated here, but this industry is not as important as it was some years ago, 

 although the Lily fields are yet a very conspicuous feature in spring. The 

 industry commenced about 1878 and reached its greatest development from 

 1890 to 1903 ; there are many references to it in horticultural literature, as in 

 Garden 28: 72, 1885; 30: 124, 125, 1886; 31: 561, 1887; Gardener's Chronicle 

 58: 113, 1885; Garden and Forest 2: 184, 185, 1889. C. W. Hervey published 

 an article describing it in New England Magazine 32: 193-198, 1905. The 

 lilies were attacked by a disease which is described and discussed by Woods, 

 in the 14th Bulletin of the Division of Vegetable Physiology of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, by A. L. Kean in Botanical Gazette 15: 

 8-14; and by Mr. George A. Bishop in a paper published at Hamilton in 1S9S. 

 The cover-page of ''Horticulture," June 16, 1917, shows a field of this 

 ' ' Fairy Isle Lily ' ' at Sunny Lands. 



Lilium candidum L., Tall White Lily, of southern Europe, is occasionally 

 planted ; it has flowers with a tube wider than that of the Easter Lily, and its 

 leaves are broader. 



Lilium Henryi Baker, Henry's Lily, Chinese, with reddish-yellow flowers 

 and short-stalked lanceolate leaves, was grown at Paget Rectory prior to 1914, 

 and other kinds of lilies have been grown there from time to time. 



Lilium chalcedonicum L., Chalcedonian Lily, of southern Europe, has 

 few, scarlet, nodding flowers in rather long peduncles, the leaves linear; it has 

 been planted occasionally. 



Lilium speciosum Thunb., Shoavy Lily, Japanese, also occasionally planted 

 has several or numerous nodding white flowers blotched with red; its lower 

 leaves are ovate, the upper lanceolate. 



