LILIACE^]. 



857 



XII. SQUII.Ii. SCILLA. 



Bulbous herbs, with radical leaves. Flowers usually blue or rarely 

 pink, in a terminal raceme, sometimes flattened into a corymb. Pe- 

 rianth-segments deciduous, free or slightly cohering at the base, either 

 spreading or forming a bell- shaped or tubular flower, and then spread- 

 ing at the top only. Stamens inserted on the perianth, below the cen- 

 tre of the segments. Seeds of Ornithogalum. 



A considerable genus, chiefly from the Mediterranean and Caucasian 

 regions, distinguished from Ornithogalum chiefly by the colour of the 

 flowers and deciduous perianth, from Hyacinth by the segments dis- 

 tinct from the base or very nearly so. 



Flowers erect, the perianth-segments spreading. 



Flowers in spring, with a bract under each pedicel ... 1. Spring S. 



Flowers in autumn, without bracts 2. Autumn 8. 



Flowers nodding, narrow bell- shaped 3. Bluebell S. 



Two or three Mediterranean species, with corymbose racemes of 

 bright-blue flowers, are frequently cultivated in our flower-gardens. 



1. Spring Squill. Scilla verna, Huds. (Fig. 1030.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 23.) 



A delicate little plant, with a small 

 bulb, and narrow-linear leaves, 2 to 4 

 inches long. Flower-stem seldom 6 

 inches long, with several small, erect, 

 blue flowers, in a short terminal raceme, 

 almost flattened into a corymb, with a 

 linear bract under each pedicel. Pe- 

 rianth-segments scarcely above 3 lines 

 long, spreading, but not so much so as in 

 Ornithogalum. Stamens inserted close 

 to their base. 



In stony and sandy wastes, and pas- 

 tures, especially near the sea, in western 

 Europe, reappearing further east in Den- 

 mark, on the Rhine, and in Sardinia. In 

 Britain, it occurs at intervals, but in 

 abundance, on the east coast of Ireland, 

 the western and northern coasts of Great 

 Britain, the east of Scotland, and very locally in north-eastern Eng 

 land. Fl. spring. 



VOL. II. 2 E 



Fig. 1030. 



