LILIACE.'E. 189 



Somerset, Dorset, Wilts, Sussex, Sui-rey, Berks, Oxford, Bucks, 

 Middlesex, Herts, Suffolk, Norfolk, Gloucester, Leicester, Stafford, 



Salop. 



England. Perennial. Early Summer. 



Bulb flowering when about the size of a large black currant, con- 

 sisting of 2 very thick scales, which after flowering enclose 2 minute 

 ones which form the bulb for the succeeding year, the old scales perish- 

 ing in autumn. Stem when barren 3 to 6 inches high : when flowering 

 9 inches to 1 foot, and in fruit 1 foot to 18 inches high. Leaves few, 

 the longest 3 to 6 inches, slightly channelled. Flower-buds tapering. 

 Flower about LV inch long, and nearly as wide across the mouth, 

 strongly tesselated with purple or purplish-maroon on a pale ground, 

 sometimes cream-white with obscure tesselation or Avithout any mark- 

 ing. Anthers yellow. Capsule about | inch long, and nearly as broad, 

 very bluntly 3-lobed. Seeds flxwn-colour, flat, semicircular, with the 

 margin about half as broad as the least diameter of the solid part. 



Common Fritillary. 



French, Fritillaire meleagre. German, Geineine Scliachhlume, 



This pretty plant is not very common, but so peculiar and attractive, that when onco 

 seen it is seldom forgotten. In some districts it covers acres of ground, and is com- 

 monly knowTi as the Snake's-head hilj. In some localities it is called the " Toad's- 

 head." The Chi-istchurch meadows at Oxford are covered with its pretty flowers 

 early in the year ; and we fancy these chequered bells must be associated in the 

 mind of many a student with his happy imdergTaduate days in this famous seat of 

 learning. 



GENUS IX.— T U L I P A. Toumcf. 



Perianth coloured, bcUshaped or bellshaped-funnelshaped ; perianth 

 leaves 6, free, caducous, ascending or more or less recurved towards 

 the apex, destitute of a nectariferous pore, not papUlose Arithin. 

 Stamens 6, scarcely adhering to the perianth leaves ; anthers inserted 

 by their base upon the filaments. St}le absent ; stigma short, deeply 

 3-lobed, the lobes often waved. Capsule fusiform-prismatic, trigonous, 

 attenuated at each end, or more so at the base than at the apex. 

 Seeds numerous, in two rows in each cell, horizontal, discoid, flat on 

 both sides, very faintly margmed; testa rather soft, yellowish-brown 

 or reddish-broAATi. 



Herbs -with coated bulbs of a few fleshy convolute scales, and leafy 

 stems with semiamplexicaul or sessile leaves. Flower large, com- 

 monly solitary, erect when expanded, but sometimes drooping in bud. 



The name of this genus comes from the word tidi^an, a turban, in allusion to tlio 

 form of the blossom. 



