Liliacee—Fulipa. 499 
Gesnev’s Tulip is the oldest in our gardens, and by consequence 
the one upon which florists have exercised their powers to the 
greatest extent, resulting in the production of an unlimited 
number of varieties. The Van Thol Tulip is readily distin- 
guished, when the specific type is not too much changed, by the 
shortness of its stem. It is besides three weeks or a month 
earlier, and may be foreed much earlier. It includes single, 
semi-double, and very double varieties, self-coloured or mar- 
gined with a colour diverse from the ground colour, assuming 
every tint from pure white and yellow to orange, purple, and 
violet. According to the botanist Fischer, it is common in the 
steppes of Russia, but this is extremely doubtful. The Van 
Thol Tulip undoubtedly holds the first rank in the genus of 
which it is a member. Less elegant in habit than Gesner’s 
Tulip, it surpasses that in the greater distinctiveness of its 
varieties, in its hardiness, and in its adaptability to all pur- 
poses for which Tulips may be used. The Turkish Tulip is 
supposed to be the type of a group of large-flowered varieties 
opening very widely, and very brilliantly coloured scarlet and 
yellow, with fantastically fringed petals. Gardeners divide 
these again into several secondary groups. Some writers con- 
tend that these varieties are hybrids, the issue of crosses be- 
tween T. Tircica and T. Gesneridna. It is far more probable 
that they are modifications of 7. Ocwlws-sdlis, induced by cul- 
tivation, or perhaps produced spontaneously. But all forms of 
T. Oculus-solis, according to Mr. Baker, may be known by 
their densely woolly bulbs. 
Gagea is a small genus of dwarf bulbous herbs with Hnear 
radical leaves and umbellate or corymbose bracteate scapes of 
small yellow or greenish-yellow flowers. . litea, Yellow Star 
of Bethlehem, is indigenous in Eastern Britain. 
3. CALOCHORTUS. 
A handsome group of North American bulbous plants rarely 
met with under cultivation. Bulbs tunicated, producing rigid 
ensiform leaves and an erect scape with showy flowers. 
Perianth deciduous, the three outer segments sepaloid, linear, 
and the three inner petaloid, much larger and_ broader, 
and bearded on the inside. From «anos, beautiful, and ydpros, 
gvass, 
KK 
