XXXI. 



ASPARAGUS BERRIES. 



MOST English lilies flower in spring or very early sum- 

 mer ; but asparagus is an exception to the general rule, 

 for it does not come into full blossom before the middle 

 of July, and 1 see the big green berries are now only 

 just beginning to redden on the sunny side under two 

 weeks of the cloudless skies of August. The world at 

 large hardly knows asparagus at all, except as a succulent 

 spring vegetable ; and that one-sided point of view 

 doubtless makes it rather difficult for most people to rec- 

 ognize in it any traces whatever of the lily family. 

 Yet a genuine lily it really is for all that ; and if you 

 look attentively at these graceful feathery sprays of clus- 

 tered foliage (they make capital decorations in a speci- 

 men vase with summer blossoms), or at these little 

 drooping yellowish-green bell-flowers that hang pensile 

 here and there along the branches, you will see that the 

 lily type is present in all essentials, and that only the 

 prepossessions of the epicure element could ever have 

 prevented one from recognizing its true affinities at the 

 first glance. The blossoms, in fact, hang down not un- 

 like Solomon's seal, only that they are composed of sepa- 

 rate greenish petals, instead of having a single tubular 

 corolla ; and they are pretty enough in their own unob- 

 trusive way, though not nearly so striking as the beauti- 

 ful bright red berries which succeed them a little later 

 on in autumn. Asparagus is a wild plant of the British 

 south coast by origin ; and though it is now becoming 



