14 FAMILIAR GARDEN FLOWERS. 



associated with spices, and this lily has a powerful and 

 spicy odour that exactly answers to the suggestion of the 

 text. Thus the white lily may be the lily of Solomon, 

 because of its powerful fragrance, but the Gocpel lily need 

 not be scented, but must be glorious in apparel, comparable 

 with this splendid monarch. It happens then that the 

 Martagon Lily (L. ckalcedonicum] , which is almost devoid 

 of odour, but produces flowers of the most brilliant scarlet, 

 like the robes of Solomon, grows in profusion -in the Levant, 

 and is especially abundant about the Lake of Gennesaret, 

 on the plains of Galilee, and the pastures on the borders of 

 the desert. But it must also be borne in mind that the 

 s/i a than, or lily of Scripture, may be rendered "rose" or 

 " violet " with propriety, and probably had a very broad 

 meaning, so that we might read, " Behold the flowers of the 

 field, how they grow/' without in the slightest degree mis- 

 representing the purpose of our Lord. The word "lily" is 

 of unknown origin, and in all its older forms is of general 

 application, and therefore we cannot hope to identify with 

 certainty ?,ny flower so called in ancient and especially 

 Eastern documents. It is none the less interesting, how- 

 ever, to note how admirably these two lilies answer to the 

 two references cited, so that we may, without resorting to 

 invention, regard the scarlet martagon and the common 

 white as par excellence the lilies of Scripture. 



It is a question of some interest why the white lily 

 was dedicated by the Romish Church to Mary the mother of 

 Jesus, and hence employed on the 2nd of July in connection 

 with the celebration of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin. 

 The delicate whiteness of the flower renders it in this 

 respect appropriate ; but it is worth considering, too, that it 

 is the only flower distinctly mentioned by the Founder of 



