96 NOTES ON LILIES 



the best argument against this plant being a hybrid* between 

 Speciosum and Japonicum, since there are none of the characters of 

 Speciosum in it at all, and it had best be considered as a well-formed, 

 delicately coloured Japonicum ; or if a hybrid, then Longiflorum and 



L. Brownii ; half the natural size ; colour, yellowish white, much tinged and dotted 



with purple. 



NOTE. L. Longiflorum often has bulbs exactly this size and form, but either pure 

 white or clear yellow, never, or very rarely, suffused or dotted with purple. 



Brownii must have been the parents. The colour of the Longiflorum- 

 like bulb is white, shaded with yellow, and sometimes suffused with 

 brown. The bulbs of the robust-growing Brownii are peculiar in 

 shape, being somewhat like a Tangerine Orange, oblate in form, the 

 base being curiously constricted, as shown in our sketch, made from 

 a fine bulb kindly sent by Dr. Wallace. The colour of the scales in the 

 specimen sent was white, much suffused and dotted with purple, but 

 in some soils the bulbs are yellowish-white, and do not turn purple 

 on exposure, although the yellow deepens in tone considerably. 

 Dr. Wallace has pointed out that the bulbs of this noble Lily are 

 peculiarly liable to decay at the base, and after carefully examining 

 the bulbs of this plant, I believe that this is due to their singular 

 structure, the scales being very much hollowed out at the base, 

 and as these become closely imbricated cup-fashion, the moisture, 

 which find an entrance at the flat apex of the bulbs where the scales 



* I cannot understand, why everyone should look upon Krameri as a garden raised 

 hybrid ; it was sent to me in 1870, as growing freely and indigenously 3,000 to 4,000 feet 

 obove sea level, and from the quantities imported (from 5,000 to 10,000 yearly) it 

 certainly can be, no garden hybrid. In shape of bulb, stem, foliage, and contour of 

 flower, it most resembles a small Auratum, and if I were to choose another parent, I 

 should name Concolor or Pulchellum as most likely ; but I should as soon call Auratum 

 a hybrid as Krameri. Compare also Thunberg's remarks, p. 68, in foot note, "that this 

 Lily grows spontaneously (indigenously) at Miaco, and elsewhere in Japan " (1783). 



