LILY. 



171 



L. ixioides. — A handsome New Zealand evergreen 

 species, with narrow grassy foliage and small white flow- 

 ers. The plants require a warm border of light soil ; 

 they will also thrive in the rockery, and are rapidly 

 propagated by seeds, or careful division in spring. 



LILY. 



Lilium. 



"We give to the lily a large space, because it is first 

 in importance in the bulb garden, in the history of flow- 

 ering plants, and in the hearts of all true lovers of the 

 beautiful in floral form and color. It is, moreover, the 

 best representative of the natural order to which it 

 belongs, which includes not only the most remarkable 

 hardy herbaceous plants, but also greenhouse plants and 

 important vegetables. The order Liliacecs contains 

 more than one hundred and eighty genera, and nearly 

 twenty-five hundred species, the best known of which, 

 besides the Lily, are the Hyacinth, Tulip, Agapanthus, 

 Frittilaria, Scilla and the Onion. The Lily derives its 

 name from the Celtic word, li, signifying whiteness ; the 

 Lily having long been considered an emblem of white- 

 ness and purity. 



The genus Lilium embraces about fifty distinct spe- 

 cies, most of which belong to the northern hemisphere, 

 and, with the exception of the few found in the moun- 

 tains of sub-tropical Asia, all the species belong to 

 the temperate regions. North America furnishes a 

 large number of ornamental and useful species, all of 

 which are highly honored in foreign lands. Japan 

 has furnished, by far, the largest number of beau- 

 tiful species under cultivation, as L. auratum, L. 

 speciosnm (erroneously known as L. lancifolium), L. 

 Leichtlinii, L. Brownii, L. tigrinum, and L. elegans 

 (Thunbergianum). with its synonyms. The Lilium 

 canclidum, the chaste beauty and grace of which is not 



