THE DAY LILIES 



By Willard N. Clute. 



TT is rare that every species in a genus possesses sufficient 

 beauty to merit a place in the flower garden, but in the 

 case of the plants belonging to the genus Hcinerocallis there 

 can be no mistake about it. There are only about half a 

 dozen species in the group, to be sure, but all have handsome 

 flowers and attractive foliage that make them equal in beauty 

 to the true lilies, though they lack the range of color in these 

 latter plants. They have, however, a hardiness of constitution 

 and an adaptability of character that should go a long way 

 toward making them prime favorites with all who cultivate 

 flowers. 



Though the flowers are shaped like lilies, they are not 

 true lilies, according to the botanist, for they grow from root- 

 stocks with numerous thickened roots, instead of from bulbs 

 as the true lilies do. The generic name, Hemerocallis, keeps 

 on the safe side by meaning merely day beauty or beautiful by 

 day, which the flowers certainly are, and some species are 

 beautiful by night as well. Nor must our plants be con- 

 fused with another group of so-called day lilies with broad 

 rounded leaves. The latter are more properly called plantain 

 lilies and belong to the genus Funkia. The true day lilies 

 have narrow grasslike leaves quite different from those of 

 related plants. 



The day lilies are all natives of the Old World. The 

 center of distribution is in eastern Asia from whence one 



