LILIUM 



LILY OBDEB 



LILIUM 855 



The most suitable soil appears to be a 

 rioli sandy loam with peat and leaf -soil, 

 thoroughly well drained. As a pot plant 

 for the greenhouse it is very desirable, 

 and may be had in flower with little 

 trouble earlier than out of doors. 



L. rubellum. — A beautiful Japanese 

 species of recent introduction, more closely 

 resembling L. Krameri than any other, 

 bxit has flowers of a much softer and more 

 delicate tint. The plant has roundish 

 bulbs and slender stems 1-^—2 ft. high 

 clothed with bright green lance-shaped 

 leaves 2-3 in. long and distinctly 5-7- 

 nerved. Grown in the open air, the plants 

 begin to bloom early in June, bearing 5-8 

 beautiful funnel- or bell-shaped flowers of 

 a more or less deep rosy-pini colour on a 

 stem. They are about 3 in. deep and as 

 much across, and quite unspotted. 



Culture dc. as above, p. 843. It has 

 been proved quite hardy in this country, 

 and Messrs Wallace of Colchester, the 

 introducers, recommend a sandy loam as 

 being the best soil for it. As a pot plant 

 it makes excellent decoration for the 

 greenhouse or conservatory, and may be 

 got into bloom early in May or April with 

 a little heat. The flowers have a delicious 

 fragrance and last well when cut. 



L. speciosum. — This beautiful and 

 popular Japanese Lily is grown in large 

 numbers, and many fine specimens of it 

 are to be seen ia cottage gardens in various 

 parts of the country. It is far better 

 known to gardeners as lancifolium, but 

 this name was given by Thunberg to the 

 Lily which is described as elegans in this 

 and other works, and had therefore better 

 be discarded in favour of the more 

 appropriate name of speciosum. Un- 

 fortunately Thunberg also called this 

 species superbwm, but that name Tiad 

 already been given to a N. American 

 species by Linnseus. The true Japanese 

 speciosum (also named by Thunberg) has 

 fair-sized roundish bulbs of a reddish tint 

 and stiff wiry stems 1-3 ft. high, clothed 

 with scattered more or less lance-shaped 

 leaves 4-6 in. long. The beautiful nodding 

 flowers 3-5 in. across are white suffused 

 with deep rose, the lower portion of the 

 reflexed segments being blotched with rose 

 or carmine-purple, and covered with ir- 

 regular jagged papillse or surface growths 

 which are sometimes of a deeper rosy- 

 purple colour. Plants cultivated in the 

 open air usually flower in August and Sep- 



tember, but may be earlier or later. The 

 blossoms are deliciously fragrant, and last 

 a long time when cut — a fact which 

 makes them much sought after for floral 

 decorations. There are many garden 

 forms of L. speciosum, the white ones 

 especially being great favourites for forcing 

 in hothouses. The variety album or 

 alhiflorum is like the type, but the flowers 

 are pure white inside, sometimes tinged 

 with dark red outside ; a new form of this 

 has perfectly pure white flowers with 

 golden-yellow anthers; KrcBtzeri is very 

 similar, but its fine white flowers are 

 readily distinguished by the watery green 

 stain down the centre of the segments 

 outside. Among the red, crimson, and 

 rosy-purple varieties may be mentioned 

 the well-known ruhrum and roseum and 

 roseum superbum and fonnosum ; also 

 niacranthum,, deep rose ; Melpomene, dark 

 crimson-purple, and its form cruentum, 

 brighter in colour and about a fortnight 

 later ; ncmum,, late -flowering dwarf form 

 with soft rose blossoms ; and punctatwrn 

 with white flowers, spotted and shaded 

 with pink. In addition to these there are 

 monstrous forms in which the stems be- 

 come very much flattened or fasoiated, as 

 often happens with L, auratu/m, and bear 

 masses of white or rose-coloured flowers. 

 These have been calledi fasciatum album, 

 anA fasciatum, rubrum respectively, but 

 the fasoiation is likely to occur in any 

 form as the result of rich feeding. The 

 variety gloriosoides differs from the other 

 forms in having narrow leaves, much 

 reflexed and crisped segments which are 

 covered with scarlet, rather than crimson, 

 spots and papUlse. 



Culture and Propagation. — The 

 speciosum Lilies flourish in rich loam, 

 peat and leaf soil, with the addition of 

 sharp sand, and treated somewhat in the 

 same way as L. monadelphum, in warm 

 sheltered situations. Although I have 

 found them perfectly hardy, it is safer in 

 cold parts of the country, and in severe 

 winters especially, to give the bulbs a 

 covering of leaves, litter &c., and if left 

 in the soil for two or three years, an 

 annual mulching of manure will do them 

 great good. Their ^dgour, beauty, free- 

 dom of flowering late in the year, and 

 their fragrance commend them as most 

 useful and ornamental plants for the 

 flower border. 



The plants may be increased by sepa- 

 rating the offsets from the bulbs early 



