Chapter XVI. 



LILY AND IRIS. 



We have used the name " flowering plant " in a 

 restricted sense to save us using a scientific word. We 

 mean by it all those seed-bearing plants that do not belong 

 to the Coniferous or Pine family. They are not the only 

 plants possessing flowers, but they are the only ones that 

 bear the conspicuous forms that in ordinary talk are 

 called flowers. 



This large group is formed of two well-marked and quite 

 distinct sections. All forms hitherto treated belong to 

 the Dicotyls; the subjects of this and the next chapter 

 belong to the Monocotyls. It is not easy to define the 

 difference between the two. If you germinate a seed of the 

 first, such as Eucalypt, Cabbage, Pea, it may be seen that 

 a pair of leaves first show above the ground ; these leaves 

 are very apparent in the seed; they are called cotyls, so 

 the section gets its name from this fact. Amongst the 

 other plants no such regularity appears. The leaves appear 

 in succession, and it is rather an assumption that they 

 possess one cotyl. The practical way of distinguishing is 

 by examination of the parts. In Dicotyls the leaves have 

 generally netted veins, and the parts of the flower in fours 

 or fives. In Monocotyls the veins are usually parallel, 

 and the parts of the flower in threes or sixes. No rigid 

 rule, however, is apparent, but with a little experience 

 there is no difficulty in correctly placing a plant. 



Palms, Orchids, Lilies, Sedges, Grasses, and such are 

 Monocotyls. Of these, some have conspicuous flowers; 

 others, like Grass and Sedge, obscure ones ; but all tend 

 to the one type, which may be best understood by exam- 

 ining a Lily. 



The Lily family is a large one, and found throughout all 

 habitable portions of the globe. It is a well-marked group, 

 though it passes without break into the Rushes. Blackboy, 

 also called Grasstree a name apt to confuse it with the 

 other Grasstree, Richea is on the border of the two, being 

 placed by some in one family, by others in the other, and 

 with equal justice. In a typical Lily there is no doubt. 

 In Rush the perianth is greenish, hard, and obscure ; in 

 Lily it is delicate, and coloured or white. We have 

 eighteen Lily genera, but most are not often met with. 



