RED 



in its glowing cup. The purple spots on its sepals guide the 

 greedy bee to the nectar at their base ; we too can take the hint 

 and reap a sweet reward if we will, after which we are more in 

 sympathy with those eager, humming bees. 



This erect, deep-hued flower is so different from its nodding 

 sister of the meadows, that we wonder that the two should be so 

 often confused. When seen away from its surroundings it has 

 less charm perhaps than either the yellow or the Turk's-cap lily ; 

 but when it rears itself in the cool depths of its woodland home 

 we feel the uniqueness of its beauty. 



TURK'S CAP LILY. 



Lilium superbum. Lily Family. 



Stem. Three to seven feet high. Leaves. Lance-shaped, the lower 

 whorled. Flowers. Orange or scarlet, with purple spots within, three 

 inches long, from three to forty growing in pyramidal clusters. Perianth. 

 Of six strongly recurved sepals. Stamens. Six, with long anthers. Pistil. 

 One, with a three-lobed stigma. 



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; 



They toil not, neither do they spin ; 



And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory 



Was not arrayed like one of these. 



How they come back to us, the beautiful hackneyed lines, 

 and flash into our memories with new significance of meaning 

 when we chance suddenly upon a meadow bordered with these 

 the most gorgeous of our wild flowers. 



We might doubt whether our native lilies at all resembled 

 those alluded to in the scriptural passage, if we did not know 

 that a nearly allied species grew abundantly in Palestine ; for we 

 have reason to believe that lily was a title freely applied by many 

 Oriental poets to any beautiful flower. 



Perhaps this plant never attains far inland the same luxuri- 

 ance of growth which is common to it in some of the New Eng- 

 land lowlands near the coast. Its radiant, nodding blossoms 

 are seen in great profusion as we travel by rail from New York 

 to Boston. 



220 



