L iliac cce Frtiillaria* 501 



posed to be of Turkish or Persian origin. It is one of the 

 largest of the genus, having a leafy stem a yard or more high 

 surmounted with a tuft of leaves or bracts, around and beneath 

 which the flowers are disposed in a whorl. The flowers are 

 about the size of ordinary Tulips, and vary in colour from yellow 

 to crimson. It blooms in April, and is a very showy plant for 

 mixed borders and among dwarf shrubs. 



F. Persica is of the same habit with dull purple flowers. 

 Another group has solitary terminal flowers, 'and to this belongs 

 the Snake's-head, F. Meledgris, a native of England, but now 

 rarely seen in a wild state. This species is about a foot high, 

 with 3 or 4 lanceolate leaves and reddish flowers streaked or 

 spotted with purple, but varying from white (F. prwcox of 

 gardens) and yellow to dark purple. Several other species are 

 occasionally seen, but with nothing particular to recommend 

 them for a small garden : F. Pyrenaica, dark purple, flowering 

 in June ; F. latifolia^ red, May from the Caucasus ; F. Kam- 

 tchatkensis and F. pallidiflora, from Siberia. 



6. LlLIUM. 



Herbaceous plants with scaly bulbs, simple leafy stems 

 branched only in the inflorescence, if at all, and large showy 

 white, yellow, orange, carmine, or red and orange, often spotted 

 or striped flowers. Perianth-segments free, erect, spreading, or 

 reflexed, the three inner usually rather larger than the outer. 

 Stamens 6, anthers on long slender filaments; pollen often 

 orange or brown and very abundant. Fruit capsular, 3-celled 

 and 3-valved ; seeds numerous. Name from Xe/ptoz/, a lily ; or, 

 according to some writers, from the Celtic li, white. The 

 Lilies are all natives of the northern hemisphere, chiefly in 

 temperate regions, a few only reaching the sub-tropical parts of 

 Asia. Several of the species may be counted amongst the oldest 

 and handsomest hardy plants in cultivation, and some of those 

 of more recent introduction are truly gorgeous in the splendour 

 of their flowers. Of late the cultivation of these plants has 

 considerably revived, partly, doubtless, in consequence of the 

 discovery of many fine new forms ; and at the present time the 

 number of species and varieties in our gardens is very great. 

 Most of the wild forms are tolerably distinct, but the species 

 are ill-defined, and there are now so many varieties of an 

 intermediate character in cultivation that it is a difficult task 

 to refer them to their respective species, and one upon which no 



