CHIONODOXA 



CHIONODOXA. GLORY-OF-THE-SNOW 



Chionoddxa lucilia. 



Chionodoxa, Greek, glory of the snow; referring to the early flow- 

 ering. 



A hardy little, bulbous plant, bearing a raceme of three to six blue 

 flowers, shading to white in the centre; blooming in early spring. 

 Native to the mountains of Asia Minor. Variable; having several 

 garden forms. 



Leaves. — Narrow, pointed, rising from a small bulb. 

 Flowers. — Blue and white, stalked on a short raceme; the tube shorter 

 than the recurved spreading, acute segments. 

 Stamens. — Six; filaments dilated. 

 Ovary. — Three-celled, style short, stigma capitate. 



The attractive name of this pretty plant refers to the fact that 

 it flowers amid the melting snows of its mountain home. It 

 dwells upon the heights of the Taurus range in Asia Minor, and 

 was there discovered by the Swiss botanist, Boissier, at an eleva- 

 tion of 7,000 feet above the sea. It has been cultivated since 

 1877. 



The leaves are three to six inches long at the flowering period, 

 strap-shaped, and surmounted by a slender raceme of three to 

 six, sometimes more, intensely blue, six-starred flowers which 

 fade to white in the centre and are fully an inch across when ex- 

 panded. To get the best effects the plant should be massed; the 

 bulbs planted an inch or two apart. 



There are several Chionodoxas in cultivation, but lualim is 

 regarded as the most satisfactory of them all. In color it runs into 

 white, red, and pink forms. 



Chionodoxa* sardSnsis has small, dark-blue flowers with no white 

 eye. This genus is very closely allied to Scilla, but differs princi- 

 pally in having a short tube to the perianth; the two hybridize, 

 and for garden effects are virtually the same. 



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