JOURNAL 



OF THE 



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Vol. XIV. BOMBAY. No. I. 



THE LILIES OF MAHABLESHWAR AND OTHERS. 



By W. p. Symonds, I.C.S. 

 {Read before the Bomhay Natural History Society on 20th August 1901.) 

 The word "lily'' surprises iu himself, as Count Smorltork said, 

 an interesting study of no inconsiderable magnitude. Botanists use 

 the word to denote either a member of the order Liliacece, or a species 

 of the genus Lilium of that order. If this paper were confined to the 

 latter sense it would come to an abrupt end, like the chapter on Snakes 

 in Ireland, as there are no true lilies in this Presidency. There is only 

 one Lilium south of the Himalayas, the large white lily of the Nilgiris, 

 Lilium neilgherrense. Lilium longijlorum is said by Firminger to 

 flourish in gardens, and Mr. Woodrow says that Lilium auratum, the 

 Golden-rayed lily of Japan, has been introduced into gardens in this 

 Presidency, but seems to have died out. Lilies do not transplant well. 

 The lilies of our gardens, like the wild lilies of Mahableshwar, are 

 Amaryllids, members of the order Amaryllidece, which is put by 

 botanists iu a different series from Liliacece. The word lily is 

 commonly used to denote any lily-like flower, generally, but not 

 always, white, of the monocotyledonous or endogenous class, which 

 consists of plants usually with hollow stems, parallel-veined leaves, and 

 parts of flower in threes. This leaves out of account the water-lilies 

 which belong to a class totally different. Shakespeare makes Perdita 



say :-- 



Bold oxlips, and 



The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds 



The flowei'-de-luce being one. 



