496 



LILIACE.E 



ripen. — Meadows, especially on limestone ; local. — Fl. September, 

 October. Perennial. The leaves and fruit are poisonous to cattle. 



1 8. Narth£cium (Asphodel). — Stiff plants, with a creeping, 

 ascending stem ; sword-shaped, equitant leaves ; -flowers in a raceme ; 

 perianth-leaves 6, free, spreading, golden-yellow, persistent ; style 

 i ; capsule 3-chambered. (Name from the Greek narthex, a rod.) 



1. N. ossifragum (Bog Asphodel). — The only British species, 



an elegant little plant, 

 6 — 8 in. high, with tufts 

 of narrow, grass-like 

 leaves, and a tapering 

 spike of star-like, yellow 

 flowers, followed by 

 long, orange-red cap- 

 sules. — The name ossi- 

 fragum, bone-breaking, 

 was given to this plant 

 from its being supposed 

 to soften the bones of 

 cattle that fed on it. 

 Other plants have had 

 the same property 

 assigned to them, but 

 there is little doubt 

 that in every case the 

 diseases in question are 

 to be traced to the 

 noxious exhalations 

 from the bogs in which 

 the plants grow, rather 

 than to the plants 

 themselves. — Fl. July — 

 September. Perennial. 



19. Tofi£ldia (Scottish Asphodel). — Very similar to the pre- 

 ceding genus, but with greenish flowers and a fruit consisting of 

 3 many-seeded follicles. (Name in honour of Mr. Tofield, a 

 Yorkshire botanist of the 18th century.) 



1. T. palustris (Mountain Scottish Asphodel). — The only 

 British species, 4 — 6 in. high, with tufts of distichous, narrow, 

 sword-shaped leaves, and almost stalkless, dense spikes of small, 

 greenish-yellow flowers, with 3 membranous bracts below each. — 

 Boggy ground in the north ; rare. — Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



20. Paris (Herb-Paris). — Plants with a stout rhizome; erect, 



pXris quadrifolia 

 {Four-leaved Herb-Paris, True-love Knot). 



