AND THEIE CULTURE. 51 



"big as a bloom of Szovitzianum, very much marked and ribbed with 

 deeper red : this will be a grand form for our gardens. I was well 

 pleased with my journey to Ireland, for there I saw the true Longi- 

 Jiorum Eximium in Dr. Moore's nursery in the Botanic Gardens. This 

 Lily is as completely distinct from Longiflorum, as Auratum is from 

 Speciosum, though I do not suppose the plant I saw had attained its 

 full proportions. I think the tube must have been some 9J inches in 

 length, and creamy white in colour. It was quite different from the 

 Lily I received last year, from the New Plant and Bulb Company, as 

 Eximium, and whether it was quite the same as Mr. Wilson's variety, 

 which is completely distinct from Longiflorum, I cannot determine until 

 I see them side by side. Mr. Wilson's variety, judging by a photograph, 

 is very much longer in its tube than the normal form, much more 

 reflexed, and larger in all its parts. The one at Glasnevin* seemed to me 

 longer still than Longiflorum Wilsonii. While on the subject of white 

 Lilies, I have this year bloomed Auratum var. Virginale, a pure white, 

 with no spots, but of a pale lemon colour, very distinct ; but the whitest 

 of all Lilies, and whiter even than the white Ramanas Rose (Rosa Eugosa 

 alba), is the flower of the variegated L. Candidum. This variety and 

 Candidum Speciosum bloom with me at least a week later than the normal 

 type, though the botanical authorities declare Speciosum to be the 

 earlier form of Candidum, it blooms later with me. I believe we 

 may set down Candidum var., with golden foliage, as the whitest of all 

 hardy plants ; the foliage, also, is very ornamental in winter and spring. 

 A grand variety for the open border is Broivnii it is a very large 

 form of Longiflorum, with rich chocolate exterior, and such stamens ; 

 the petals are reflexed to such an extent, that one might imagine the 

 flower had been invented by some idealist. It will succeed perfectly in 

 the open border, planted in turfy loam. I have not yet seen Longi- 

 florum succeed untouched in a cold climate ; it always comes up too soon, 

 and gets caught by March winds, but, I firmly believe, Brownii does 

 not suffer from the diseases common to Longiflorum. I have never 

 succeeded well with Speciosum and its varieties, though I have bought, 

 from time to time, most of the highly described varieties ; with me, they 

 were in no way different from the ordinary forms. I have still a liking 

 for the variety known as Purpuratum, but I have never seen such 

 magnificently coloured plants of Speciosum, as those grown by the 

 famous Abyssinian traveller, Mr. Mansfield Parkyns, at Woodborough, in 

 this cold county of Notts. His soil is good, rich, unctuous, clayey loam, 

 rather red in colour. (How is it that the bulbs grown in Holland are so 

 much finer than those grown in England ) L. Concolor flowered well in 

 the open border, and I believe it will become a great favourite where the 

 smaller and more delicate herbaceous plants are appreciated. Whoever 

 grows Omplialodes Lucilice ought to grow L. Concolor. The latter has 

 stems 18 inches high, and exquisite little red flowers spotted with deeper 

 red, opening like falling stars, and afterwards becoming reflexed. 



* Very probably the form known under the name of Madame von Siebold, which 

 possesses a larger tube than any other at present known variety, is the one grown at 

 Glasnevin. 



