POLYGONATUM 



LILY OBDEB 



POLYGONATUM 811 



segments free, spreading, spotted. Sta- 

 mens 6, hypogynoua ; ovary 3-oelled, 

 becoming a roundish indehiscent berry 

 when ripe. 



L. radicans. — A distinct Chilian ever- 

 green bush 1-2 ft. high, with slender 

 thread-like stems, and smooth ovate lance- 

 shaped stalkless leaves. Flowers pure 

 white, about 2 in. across, with spreading 

 segments, and golden-yellow anthers 

 united into a cone in the centre. 



Culture and, Propagation. — This plant 

 is fairly hardy in the neighbourhood of 

 London, but is more suitable for outdoor 

 cultivation in the mildest parts of the 

 south and west. It likes a sandy peat in 

 sheltered places, and may be grown in the 

 rock garden or in front of such shrubs as 

 Bhododendrons, Kalmias, and other peat- 

 loving plants of the Heath order. 



POLYGONATUM (Solomon's Seal). 

 A genus containing more than 20 species 

 of ornamental herbaceous plants, having 

 horizontally creeping fleshy rootstocks, 

 ending in a stalk which ascends and bears 

 ovate lance-shaped or linear, alternate, 

 opposite, or verticillate leaves. Flowers 

 nodding or drooping, solitary in the leaf- 

 axils, or often in short loose racemes or 

 umbels on short stalks. Perianth tubular 

 or somewhat bell-shaped, with short, 

 spreading- erect, nearly equal lobes. Sta- 

 mens 6, enclosed. Fruit a 2-4-seeded 

 roundish pulpy berry. 



Culture amd, Propagation. — Polygo- 

 natums have obtained the popular name 

 of ' Solomon's Seal ' from the circular 

 depressed soar left on the creeping root- 

 stock after the leaf and flower-stems have 

 disappeared. All the cultivated species 

 are hardy, and flourish in any ordinary 

 good garden soil, although they prefer a 

 fairly rich sandy loam. For the decora- 

 tion of shaded parts of the flower border, 

 rockeries, under tall deciduous trees, they 

 are very appropriate, and look handsome 

 when grown in large masses. In a cut 

 state the leaves and flowers remain fresh 

 a long time, and the buds will expand 

 after being cut. 



Plants are easily increased at the end 

 of summer when the foliage has withered, 

 or in early spring, simply by dividing the 

 rootstocks, taking care in the process that 

 each portion is farnished with a terminal 

 bud, from which the season's growth is to 

 develop. 



Seeds may also be sown, as soon as 



ripe and freed from the pulp, in fine 

 sandy loam and leaf-soil in pots or pans. 

 They will sprout the following spring, 

 and should be grown on in the seed-boxes 

 for at least one season before planting 

 out. It is rather a slow process obtain- 

 ing plants from seeds, and division of the 

 rootstocks is the method usually em- 

 ployed. 



P. biflorum A pretty Canadian 



species with slender stems 1-3 ft. high, 

 and almost sessile, ovate or lance-shaped 

 leaves, usually somewhat downy on the 

 veins, and pale or glaucous-green beneath. 

 The greenish-white flowers are borne in 

 May, usually two together, but some- 

 times three, drooping in the leaf-axils. 



Culture Ac. as above. 



P. japonicum. — A Japanese species 

 1-2 ft. high, with leathery, oblong leaves 

 2-3 in. long, somewhat glaucous, especially 

 on the under surface. The drooping 

 white flowers, J-f in. long, slightly tinged 

 with purple, are produced in April 1-3 

 together in the axils of the leaves. 



Culture (to. as above. 



P. latifolium. — A vigorous plant, 

 native of Central Europe, and apparently 

 intermediate in character between P. 

 multifiorum and P. officinale. It has 

 arching stems 2-4 ft. high, and broad 

 bright green leaves. The greenish-white 

 flowers appear in July, 2-5 together, 

 drooping from the leaf-axils. The variety 

 commutatum, from N. America, reaches 

 a height of 6-7 ft., and has 3-10 large 

 white flowers in a cluster. 



Culture ic. as above. 



P. multifiorum {Convallaria multi- 

 flora). — David's Harp ; Lady's Seal. — 

 This is the Common Solomon's Seal 

 occasionally found wild in British and 

 Irish woods, but also distributed through- 

 out temperate Europe. Its arching stems 

 grow 2-3 ft. high, naked below, and 

 famished on the upper two-thirds with 

 shortly stalked, oblong, stem-clasping 

 leaves 3-5 iu. long. The greenish-white 

 flowers, about 1 in. long, appear in 

 May and June, drooping in clusters of 

 2-5 on a stalk, from the leaf-axUs. They 

 are succeeded by bluish-black berries 

 about 5 in. in diameter. 



There are several forms of this species, 

 including the rare double-flowered one 

 {flore pleno) ; the silvery-variegated one 

 (striatum) ; and roseum, a form with 



