60 LILIES 



So, too, the descriptions are sometimes ap- 

 proximate, rather than strictly accurate. Ob- 

 servers do not always see precisely alike and 

 there is no universal standard of color terms. 

 Then again, various conditions may alter not 

 only the color shades but the height and the 

 period of bloom, not to mention throwing the 

 matter of culture into the easy or difficult class. 

 Here, as well, differences of opinion, or of ob- 

 servation, are of slight consequence. For one 

 thing, no lily color will ever prove unsatisfying 

 if given a fair chance to display its particular 

 charm. The writer found the Washington lily 

 at Kew fairly describable as pink. But no one, 

 if he succeeds in growing this choice American 

 species and its varieties will have any fault to 

 find if it proves to be "white, tinged with pink 

 or red and dotted with purple," or "white, pur- 

 ple-spotted blooms that become tinged with pur- 

 ple after expansion," or "white, with purple 

 tinge on back," or "white, shading off to lilac." 



L. Alexandrae See japonieum 



Alexandra's lily is classed by Kew as a va- 

 riety of L. japonieum, but is sometimes called a 

 natural Japanese hybrid, L. auratum x L. 

 longiflorum. 



