L iliacece Tulipa. 499 



Gesner's Tulip is the oldest in our gardens, and by consequence 

 the one upon which florists have exercised their powers to the 

 greatest extent, resulting in the production of an unlimited 

 number of varieties. The Van Thol Tulip is readily distin- 

 guished, when the specific type is not too much changed, by the 

 shortness of its stem. It is besides three weeks or a month 

 earlier, and may be forced much earlier. It includes single, 

 semi-double, and very double varieties, self-coloured or mar- 

 gined with a colour diverse from the ground colour, assuming 

 every tint from pure white and yellow to orange, purple, and 

 violet. According to the botanist Fischer, it is common in the 

 steppes of Russia, but this is extremely doubtful. The Van 

 Thol Tulip undoubtedly holds the first rank in the genus of 

 which it is a member. Less elegant in habit than Gesner's 

 Tulip, it surpasses that in the greater distinctiveness of its 

 varieties, in its hardiness, and in its adaptability to all pur- 

 poses for which Tulips may be used. The Turkish Tulip is 

 supposed to be the type of a group of large-flowered varieties 

 opening very widely, and very brilliantly coloured scarlet and 

 yellow, with fantastically fringed petals. Gardeners divide 

 these again into several secondary groups. Some writers con- 

 tend that these varieties are hybrids, the issue of crosses be- 

 tween T. Turcica and T. Gesneriana. It is far more probable 

 that they are modifications of T. Oculus-sdlis, induced by cul- 

 tivation, or perhaps produced spontaneously. But all forms of 

 T. Oculus-solid, according to Mr. Baker, may be known by 

 their densely woolly bulbs. 



Gagea is a small genus of dwarf bulbous herbs with linear 

 radical leaves and umbellate or corymbose bracteate scapes of 

 small yellow or greenish-yellow flowers. G. Ihtea, Yellow Star 

 of Bethlehem, is indigenous in Eastern Britain. 



3. CALOCHCRTUS. 



A handsome group of North American bulbous plants rarely 

 met with under cultivation. Bulbs tunicated, producing rigid 

 ensiform leaves and an erect scape with showy flowers. 

 Perianth deciduous, the three outer segments sepaloid, linear, 

 and the three inner petaloid, much larger and broader, 

 and bearded on the inside. From /ra\oy, beautiful, and xP TOS ) 

 grass, ' 



K K 



