58 THE LILY FAMILY. 



the Mexicans make use of the saponaceous rootstocks, and the former value 

 the leaves to weave into baskets, ropes, mats and strings. 



Y.filametitbsa, Spanish bayonet, or Adam's needle, also very familiar in 

 cultivation, sends forth a high bracted scape and bears its flowers in a large 

 showy panicle, the branches of which diverge widely. Its woody stem or 

 caudex is very short. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, pointed at the apex 

 and noticeable from the thread-like fibres which separate from their margins 

 and which are considerably used by the natives for binding purposes. 

 The mere possibility that Adam might have sewn his first suit of clothes 

 together with the stiff sharp point of the plant's leaf has caused it, so we 

 suppose, to be called his needle. In its wild state it occurs from Maryland 

 to Florida and Louisiana. 



Y. gloriosa, Spanish dagger, is often found growing in the same neigh- 

 bourhood as Yucca aloifolia. It is a smaller plant and one that has 

 smooth leaf margins. 



LILY=OF=THE=VALLEY FAMILY. 



Co7ivallariacecB. 



Either scapose or kafy-stamjied plants with rootstocks^ fiever grow- 

 ing frotn bulbs or co?'7fis, and which bear regular flowers and fleshy, berry- 

 like fruits. 



WHITE CLINTONIA. 



Clint on ia iwibelluldta . 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Lily-of-the-Valley. White. Fragrant. Ga. afid Tenn. northward. May, June. 



Flmvers : growing in a terminal umbel on a slightly pubescent scape, eight to 

 eighteen inches high and which sometimes bears midway a small leaf. Feriaitth: 

 with six divisions, pointed or obtuse at the apex and narrower at the base. Sta- 

 mens : ^\yi, inserted at the base of the perianth. Anthers: prominent. Fruit: 

 blue, round, berry-like. Lcai'es: from the base; sheathed; oblong, acute at the 

 apex, ciliate and hairy on the mid-vein and margins; bright green and glabrous 

 above ; thin. Rootstock : creeping. 



This very symmetrical and attractive individual which we find in cool, 

 shady woods has something the look of a water plant. Unfortunately it 

 was no Jonger in bloom when I saw it at a hi^h elevation in the piojuntain^ 



