FLORA AND SYLVA. 



Large-flowered Wood Lily {T.grandiflo- 

 rum). — The commonest and best kind, and a 

 plant of great beauty when well grown, flower- 

 ing freely each year during April and May. 

 Old well-rooted plants are often 2 feet or more 

 high, with flowers of 3 inches, usually white, 

 but at times tinged with green or purple, and 

 fading to a rosy colour. Abounds in forests of 

 North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Kentucky, as 

 profuse as the Snowdrops and Anemones of 

 English woods, seedling forms different in 

 size and colour being common side by side. 

 Varieties: — The form sold as majus is only a 

 selection of these large-flowered seedlings or 

 the result of good culture in gardens. A fine 

 coloured form, roseum, is very distinct and good 

 as a contrast to the white. Its rosy colour is 

 deepest on the outside of the petals and most 

 masked in its early stages, before the fading 

 flowers of the white take on their rosy hue; 

 its leaves and stems also are deeply bronzed 

 and handsome. Planted in company the efFect 

 of the two kinds is charming. They flower 

 well in pots but are unpleasant in smell. 



Dwarf Wood Lily {T.nivale). — A pretty 

 woodland gem, from 2 to 4 inches high and 

 like grandiflora in miniature. Its pure white 

 flowers appear early in April, with leaves often 

 mottled or spotted with purple. The smallest 

 and daintiest of the group, going early to rest. 

 State of Ohio. 



Pink Wood Lily (T. obovatum). — A kind 

 with white flowers changing to pink, upon 

 stems 8 to 12 inches high; akin to T. erectum 

 and perhaps only a form of it. Rare in gardens 

 but useful for its early flowers. 



Dusky Wood Lily (T. recurvatum). — A 

 plant akin to T. sessile and found with it in the 

 woods of Pennsylvania, bearing small stemless 

 flowers of dusky purplish brown, | to 1 ^ inches 

 wide, composed of long recurved petals which 

 are pointed and again narrowed at their base. 

 April and May. Of little more than botanic 

 interest. 



Western Wood Lily {T. sessile). — Also 

 bearing stemless flowers of dark purple, com- 

 posed of long erect petals in beauty early in 

 April, fading later to a greenish colour and last- 

 ing long upon the plant. It is not a showy kind, 

 the oval stemless leaves borne upon slender 

 stems of 6 to 12 inches, and marbled in shades 

 ofgreen and dark, being often prettier than the 



flowers. Varieties: — A distinct form of this 

 species from the Pacific coast — var. californi- 

 cum — is finer and well worth growing, bloom- 

 ing in April, with erect white flowers of large 

 size, oftenest pure, but at times suffused with 

 rosy purple or lilac. The broad leaves are hand- 

 some, of bright green or finely blotched with 

 dark purple, and the plant is more vigorous, 

 free in flower, and easily grown. A second 

 variety, Wrayi (also known as 7. discolor), is of 

 small account, bearing dingy flowers of green 

 and dull purple with erect petals, their merit 

 being their early appearance ; leaves prettily 

 marbled with brown and dark purple. This 

 kind is also found in a deeply maroon-coloured 

 fovm,atratum,with flowers of medium size and 

 mottled leaves. 



Catesby's Wood Lily (T. stylosum). — A 

 beautiful plant, similar in habit to grandiflora 

 and nearly as robust, bearing upon stems of 

 1 2 to 18 inches large drooping flowers of rosy 

 colour, with recurved petals, shading at times 

 to deep red. It is hardy, easy to grow, flower- 

 ing latest of all, in June; known as keeping its 

 leaves long after other kinds. Rare in gardens 

 but well worth growing. B. 



Trees as Soil- makers. — Trees to a certain 

 extent create their own soil, for, however poor 

 the land may be when the trees are first planted, 

 the annual layers of fallen leaves soon forms a 

 deposit of black mould, between which and the 

 natural soil the roots of the trees are always 

 found in great numbers ; the older the wood 

 the deeper and richer the deposit becomes. In 

 the old Beech and other forests of the Continent 

 it is extraordinary to what an extent this leaf- 

 mould has accumulated. If it were not for it, 

 the crops of the same tree could not have 

 succeeded each other on the same ground 

 generation after generation as they have done. 

 Mountains, such as in this country have been 

 almost bared to the rock by constant denuda- 

 tion, are, in the Hartz region, knee-deep in 

 some places with leaf-mould under the trees, 

 and the same may be said of Fir and Spruce 

 woods, in which the fallen Pine-needles have 

 formed a bed of black mould. Tree crops ma- 

 nure themselves and enrich the ground on 

 which they grow — a fact that should never 

 be lost sight of in planting poor lands. — J. S., 

 ! Field. 



