234 LETTER XIX. 



brittle coating of the seed, is one of the most impor- 

 tant characters in the Asphodel tribe, as you will find 

 in my next letter. 



The principal differences of appearance in the 

 Asphodel tribe are caused by two circumstances, the 

 growing together of the sepals and petals into a tube, 

 and the formation of a stem covered with leaves ; the 

 former alters the look of the flowers, the latter changes 

 the whole aspect of the plant. You must therefore 

 pay attention to this, before you discontinue your study 

 of the tribe. 



To understand the first of these two circumstances 

 you should endeavour to trace the gradations by 

 which the growing together of the sepals and petals 

 occurs. In the Onion you have seen that they are 

 all distinct ; they are equally so in the Vernal Squill 

 (Scilla bifolia), or in the Nodding Star of Bethlehem 

 (Omithogalum mutans) ; but in the wild Blue Hya- 

 cinth^ or Blue-hell, as it is often called (Hyacinthus 

 non scriptus), they converge so as to form a tube ; and 

 in the curious Starch Hyacinth (Muscari) they are 

 completely glued together. These gradations exem- 

 plify most perfectly the passage fi'om a spreading 

 flower with separate segments to a tubular flower with 

 all the segments united. 



The second peculiarity, that of forming a leafy- 

 stem, gives a much more different aspect to a part of 

 the tribe. In the Asparagus, for example, which you 

 perhaps only know in the state in which it is brought 

 to table, the stem when full grown is repeatedly 



