MORE MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 113 



tubular corolla of the common harebell, except 

 that in the harebell the tube is formed by the 

 union of the five petals, while in the hyacinth it 

 is formed by the similar union of three petals and 

 three sepals. A still higher form of the same 

 union is shown us by the lily-of-the-valley, in 

 which the six perianth-pieces join throughout to 

 form a very beautiful heather-like cup or goblet. 

 Other familiar members of this great lily group, 

 which you ought to examine at leisure for your- 

 self, in order to see how they are built up, are as- 

 paragus, Solomon's seal, fritillary, tulip, star-of- 

 Bethlehem, squill, garlic, onion, tuberose, and 

 asphodel. The cultivated lilies of one sort or 

 another to be found in our gardens may be num- 

 bered by hundreds. 



A family of threefold flowers almost as beau- 

 tiful as the lily group, and seldom distinguished 

 from them save by botanists, is that which bears 

 the pretty Greek name of amaryllids. The ama- 

 ryllids are lilies which differ from the rest of their 

 kind, in the fact that the perianth, still composed 

 of six pieces, has grown up and around the ovary 

 so as to seem to spring from above it, not below 

 it. Such flowers are said to have " inferior ova- 

 ries." In other respects the amaryllids closely 

 resemble the lilies, having six coloured perianth- 

 pieces, six stamens, and an ovary of three cham- 

 bers, with one style in common. Several of the 

 amaryllids are such familiar flowers that I shall 

 venture to describe them as illustrative examples. 



The snowdrop is an amaryllid which blossoms 

 in early spring, and which shows in a simple form 

 the chief features of the family. It has six pe- 

 rianth-pieces, but these are still distinctly recog- 

 nisable as calyx and corolla. The three sepals 

 8 



