CHAPTER II 



SUB-GENUS I 



LILIUM GIGANTEUM (Eastern Himalayas), 

 Cardiocrinum 



The great beauty and surprising dimensions of the 

 giant Lily well repay the trouble needed for its culti- 

 vation. Though a true Lily, its wide, succulent 

 leaves have almost the appearance of those of a 

 giant Arum. 



In cool woodland, in a light, loamy soil, it can 

 easily be grown ; indeed there are woods in England 

 where it grows so readily that it may be said to have 

 become naturalised, growing spontaneously from self- 

 sown seed. But in most gardens and home wood- 

 lands it is thankful for well-prepared holes of light 

 sandy loam with leaf-mould and enrichment of well- 

 decayed manure. 



The root is unlike that of most Lilies, for instead of 

 consisting of whitish or yellowish scales, only adhering 

 by their bases, it is a solid bulb of dark bottle-green 

 colour, shaped something like an oil-flask with a 

 shortened neck. It makes no stem roots,^ all its 

 root-growth coming from the bulb, and radiating 



^ See page 6i. 



4 



