THE LILY OF THE VALLEY. 



PROF. W. K. HIGLEY, 

 Secretary Chicago Academy of Sciences. 



Fair flower, that, lapt in lowly glade, 

 Dost hide beneath the greenwood shade. 



Than whom the vernal gale 

 None fairer wakes, on bank or spray 

 Our England's lily, of the May, 



Our lily of the vale! 



Of thy twin-leaves the embowered screen. 

 Which wraps thee in thy shroud of green; 



Thy Eden-breathing smell; 

 Thy arch'd and purple- vested stem, 

 Whence pendant many a pearly gem, 



Displays a milk-white bell. 



— Bishop Mant. 



THE lily of the valley is one of 

 the most delicate and beautiful 

 of the lily family {LiliacecE). 

 With the exception of the or- 

 chid family probably no group of 

 plants furnishes a larger variety of 

 popular forms noted alike for their 

 beauty and delicacy. 



It has been truly said of the lily 

 family that "the flowers of most 

 are beautiful, of many brilliant, and 

 of some truly splendid." This family 

 contains about one hundred and fifty 

 genera and over thirteen hundred 

 species. They are world-wide in their 

 distribution, excepting the Arctic zone, 

 though they are more common in the 

 temperate and subtropical regions. 



Among the species sought by the 

 lover of cultivated flowers none is more 

 noteworthy than the tulip, a native of 

 Persia. It is claimed that there are 

 more than seven hundred forms of the 

 tulip known to the florist — all varia- 

 tions of a single species. 



The type of the family is the lily. 

 The lily is the Persian personifi- 

 cation of night, HI or lilleh being 

 essentially the words used to designate 

 evening. It is the Indo-Iranian ana- 

 logue of the rose, which in countries 

 speaking the romance languages, as 

 well as in China, stands for a symbol of 

 secrecy and was planted over graves as 

 an emblem of immortality. 



To this family also belong the day- 

 lily, the tuberose, the hvacinth, the 

 yucca, and the star-of Bethlehem. 

 Here also is classed the useful though 

 much-abused onion, the flowers of 



which, though small, form a most 

 graceful group at the top of the stem, 

 especially in the wild species. 



Asparagus is usually placed in this 

 family and many species, such as 

 squills and the varieties of aloes, are 

 highly valued in medicine. In fact it 

 may be said that the family "abounds 

 in a bitter, stimulant principle and also 

 in mucilage." It is of interest that 

 some of the species of this family were 

 prized by the Greeks and Romans for 

 their medicinal value. The name for 

 aloes in both languages refers to the 

 bitter principle, and no name could be 

 more appropriate, as the extract is in- 

 tensely bitter. 



The lily of the valley {Convallaria 

 majalis, L.) is a native of the moun- 

 tainous regions of Virginia and south- 

 ward through Georgia. It is identical 

 with the cultivated form which was 

 brought from Europe. 



The generic name Convallariax^ixova 

 two Latin words meaning "with" and 

 "valley," having reference to its habit of 

 growing on mountain sides. This 

 sweet-scented plant has an under- 

 ground stem which sends up a 

 stalk that bears, chiefly on one side, 

 numerous nodding white flowers. The 

 oblong leaves, usually two in number, 

 rise from the base of the flower-stalk, 

 which is sheathed by their stems. 



The pure white of the flowers as 

 well as their symmetrical form has 

 led writers to speak of them as the 

 symbol of purity, and no flower, per- 

 haps, is in greater demand for the dec- 

 oration of the church and home. 



