30 ARISTOCRATS OF THE GARDEN 



(L. Thayerae). There are other Lilies which we have 

 not time to consider but on our homeward journey 

 let us pause for a moment in the geographical 

 heart of China, in the region of the famous Yang- 

 tsze Gorges, and visit the haunt of the Orange- 

 flowered Speciosum (L. Henry i). Inland a few miles 

 from the riverine city of Ichang, on formations of 

 conglomerate and hard carboniferous limestones, at 

 the edge of woods and among tall shrubs we find here 

 a few and there many of Henry's charming Lily. 



From these distant regions came the bulbs of these 

 Lilies, and I count it a privilege to have been the for- 

 tunate discoverer of two, the introducer of three, and 

 the medium through which the fourth (L. Henryi) 

 first became common in cultivation. I could tell of 

 others equally beautiful were any good purpose to be 

 served and I mention these four not for personal 

 reasons but to direct attention to the conditions under 

 which they grow wild and to emphasize that, though 

 sun-loving and capable of withstanding much desicca- 

 tion both from the action of sun and frost, they grow 

 naturally among protective herbs and shrubs. These 

 herbs and shrubs afford protection in two ways: in 

 spring they screen from the sun's direct rays the young 

 flower-stem of the Lily after it emerges from mother 

 earth; in the autumn the fallen leaves of the shrubs 



