HYACINTH, ASPARAGUS, ONION, GARLIC. 



533 



FIG. 190. ASPARAGUS OFFICINALTS. a, flowers ; 6, corolla 

 opened to show the stamens ; c, pistil and ovar" ; d, fruit ; 

 e, horizontal section of the fruit ; /, seed, magnified ; g, ver- 

 tical section of the same. 



termed), they cohere nearly to their points ; and in another genus 

 they are com- 

 pletely glued toge- v ^y^ // j X\\ 

 ther. Again, in 

 the Asparagus, the 

 stem, when full 

 grown, is repeat- 

 edly branched, and 

 covered with little 

 taper leaves, so as 

 almost to resemble 

 a Dracaena in mi- 

 niature. Through- 

 out this order, the 

 leaves are long and 

 narrow, like green 

 straps, with simple 

 parallel veins, sometimes much resembling those of Grasses. 



711. Many of the plants of this order are great favourites in 

 gardens, on account of their showy flowers ; and of the foreign 

 species, several are easily naturalised in this country. Such are 

 the Asphodels themselves, which are not natives of Britain, but 

 which have long been ornaments of our gardens. The bulbs 

 generally contain a large quantity of fecula, which is usually 

 mixed, however, with a peculiar secretion, that imparts to it a 

 strong and frequently unpleasant taste, together with powerful 

 medicinal properties. In the Onion, Garlic, Shallot, and other 

 plants belonging to the genus Allium, the taste is such as to 

 render them valuable to give flavour to other articles of food, 

 whilst the more active principle is only present in small quan- 

 tities; and many of these, when the quantity of fecula is 

 increased by cultivation (which does not increase the amount of 

 peculiar secretions in the same degree) are themselves employed 

 as articles of food ; especially when their taste is rendered less 

 strong and acrid by the heat employed in their preparation, or 

 by the warmth of the climate in which they grow. Garlic and 

 onions have been esteemed in Egypt from very early times ; 



