ie ble A SN ak EAS La 
CROWN IMPERIAL AND SNAKE’S-HEAD LILIES 605 
scale of a bulb that may get separated in handling will produce several 
of these tiny offsets if placed in soil, though, of course, these small bulbs 
will take several years to attain flowering strength. They should be 
planted out of doors in a specially prepared bed containing a good 
proportion of thoroughly rotted cow-manure, in conjunction with peat 
and good loam, where they will make rapid progress. 
Description of Plate 279. Lilium auwratum, the Gold-rayed Lily of 
Plates 279 to 282. Japan. A flower, about one-third less than the natural size. 
Plate 280. Liliwm crocewm, the Saffron Lily, one-third less than 
natural size. Fig. 1, section of ovary, with stamens. 
late 281. Lilium candiduwm, St. Joseph’s Lily, natural size. 
Fig. 1, flower after removing the perianth-segments. 
Plate 282. Liliwm speciosum, the Showy Lily. Bulb natural size, 
flowers reduced one-third. The stem-roots referred to on page 604 are 
well shown here. Fig 1 is a section through the ovary. 
CROWN IMPERIAL AND SNAKE’S-HEAD 
LILIES 
Natural Order LILIACE&. Genus Fritillaria 
FRITILLARIA (Latin, fritillus, a dice-box or chess-board, from the 
checkered pattern of the flower in some species). A genus of about fifty 
species of bulbous perennials. The bulb consists of a few thick scales, 
and the stem bears stalkless leaves and drooping flowers. These are 
bell-shaped, with the six perianth-segments free to the base, each bear- 
ing a hollowed honey-gland at its base. The stamens are attached at 
the very base of the segments. Ovary three-sided, style three-grooved, 
stigma three-lobed. The species are distributed throughout the Temperate 
Regions of the Northern Hemisphere; one British. 
Fritilaria Meleagris, the Snake’s-head, is numbered 
in the British Flora as a plant of local occurrence in moist 
meadows, although there are not wanting those who suspect that its 
presence here is due to man’s agency in a forgotten past. It is quite 
certain that garden enthusiasts at an early date began to introduce 
Fritillarias, for in the year 1596 two species other than F. Meleagris 
were in cultivation here. These were F. imperialis, the Crown Imperial, 
and F. persica, both from Persia. Among other early introductions were 
the var. latifolia of F. lutea, from the Caucasus in 1604, of which the 
type was not brought hither until 1812. F. pyrenaica, from the Pyrenees, 
Iv.— 28 
History. 
