154 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



small group, some placing them with lilies, others referring 

 them to the present family, and their solid corms seem to 

 indicate this as their proper place. 



The Lily Family. 



(LlLIACE^.) 



Plants varying in habit, the extremes of which are repre- 

 sented by Dragon-trees, Lilies, Butcher's-broom, and its 

 climbing associates. Leaves always simple, glabrous, rarely 

 villous, grass or sword-like, or elliptical. Flowers produced 

 in various ways. Sepals and petals 6, generally uniform in 

 size and colour, free or united at the base, forming a pe- 

 rianth. Stamens 6. Pistil simple, or 3-lobed. Fruit a 

 many-seeded, 3-celled capsule, or a fleshy berry. 



About 1200 species are enumerated as belonging to this 

 interesting family ; they present such diverse variation in 

 habit and technical character, as to have been classed by 

 some botanists under different families, and it will best suit 

 this work if we artificially arrange them according to their 

 mode of growth as regards roots and stems. They are 

 widely distributed, being chiefly natives of temperate coun- 

 tries both in the North and South hemispheres. In Europe 

 they are represented by Allium, and Ornithogalum ; in 

 America and Japan, by Lilies ; in Mexico, by Yuccas ; in 

 Africa, by Aloes, Draccenas, and various bulbs; and in 

 Australia, by Grass-trees (Xanthorrhoea) . 



They are of considerable importance, both for food and 

 also for economic and domestic uses. Many have a 

 medical reputation, irritant, and, of a drastic, purgative 

 nature, some even being poisonous. 



I. Lily Group. 



Herbs with compact (bulb-like) phyllocorms growing on 

 or under the surface, with annual, sofl;, flaccid leaves. Scape 

 simple, or compound, bearing from one to many flowers, 



