854 



THE LILY FAMILY. 



X. GAGEA. GAGEA. 



Bulbous herbs, with 1 or 2 radical leaves, and a short stem, with a 

 terminal raceme of yellow flowers flattened into a corymb, with a leaf- 

 like green bract under each pedicel, and sometimes a leaf below the 

 flowers. Perianth spreading, with distinct segments. Stamens in- 

 serted at their very base, with filiform, not flattened filaments. Seeds 

 of Omit hog alum. 



A small European and Asiatic genus, closely allied to Ornitliogalum, 

 with which it was formerly united, but distinguished by the stamens, 

 the yellow flowers, and more leafy bracts. 



1. Yellow Gagea. Gagea lutea, Ker. (Pig. 1026.) 



(Ornitliogalum, Eng. Eot. t. 21.) 



Bulbs small, forming usually two new 

 ones every year, one on each side of the 

 old one. Leaves 1 or very rarely 2, 

 linear, pointed and curved like those of 

 a Tulip. Stem slender, rarely 6 inches 

 high. Flowers 3 or 4, in a flat raceme, 

 almost contracted into an umbel ; the 

 leaf-like bracts as long as the pedicels 

 or longer. Perianth-segments about 6 

 lines long, very spreading, narrow ob- 

 long, yellow, with a green back. 



In meadows and fields, especially in 

 sandy soils, over the greater part of Eu- 

 rope and Russian Asia, except the ex- 

 treme north. Occurs in several parts of 

 England, and the" lowlands of Scotland, 

 but rarely, and is not found in Ireland. 

 Fl. spring. Continental botanists dis- 

 tinguish as species several forms, accord- 

 ing as to whether there are 1, 2, or 3 bulbs at the time of flowering 

 (if one only, it is the old bulb still remaining entire, the new ones com- 

 mencing only, or not yet visible ; if 3, the 2 new ones are fully formed, 

 spreading out horizontally before the old one is absorbed ; if 2, the 

 old one is fully absorbed, leaving only a shrivelled stem between the 

 2 new ones), and some slight differences in the breadth, and obtuse or 

 pointed ends of the perianth-segments, and it is probable that similar 

 variations may be found in the British specimens. 



Fig. 1026. 



