rUTCH LILIES. 



363 



DUTCH LILIES. 



By Eknst H. Krelage, Haarlem. 



Lily growers in Holland have paid special attention to three groups 

 of Lilies which they have succeeded in growing to perfection, in improving 

 by sowing, and in monopolising as an article of their national bulb 

 industry. I refer to the elegans or Thunhergianum, to the dauricum or 

 umhellatum, and to the speciosum or lancifolium groups ; for, although 

 no known species or variety of Lilies would be sought for without result 

 in the nurseries of the first-class firms, the three groups named alone 

 contain those varieties which are grown in immense quantities in the 

 Holland bulb district, and rightly deserve to be included in the familiar 

 expression of ''Dutch bulbs." 



Having been honoured by an invitation to read a paper at the Lily 

 Conference, I consider it a most pleasing duty to treat of what I 

 ventured to call "Dutch Lilies" in particular, in the first place, on 

 account of my nationality, but secondly, because, as a rule, far more 

 attention is given in the British horticultural press to other kinds of 

 Lilies. Consequently, it may be expected that others will not fail to 

 choose other groups of Lilies as a subject for papers, whereas the groups 

 referred to above seem to have less chance of being noticed. 



1. The Thunbergianum Geoup. 



The Thunbergianum Lilies are, with the umhellatum varieties, the 

 first to open their flowers ; only a very few other species are in flower at 

 the same time. The name Thunbergianum is used here as being far 

 more xoopular than the more correct specific name of elegans, w^hich has 

 the right of priority, being given by Thunberg, Professor at Upsala (1743- 

 1828), in the " Memor. Acad. Petropolit." iii. 203, tab. 3, fig. 2. The same 

 species, however, had also been described by the same Thunberg as L. 

 bulbiferum, which is a perfectly distinct plant. Consequently, Thunberg's 

 hulhifcrum was changed into Thunbergianum by Schultes (" Syst. Veget." 

 vii. 415), w^ho seems to have overlooked Thunberg's description of 

 L. elegans mentioned before. The Lily has often been figured under 

 Schultes' name (for example, in the " Botanical Register," 1839, tab. 38, 

 and in Maund's "Botanist," tab. 158, kc.) ; hence the Lily became generally 

 known in gardens under the name of Thunbergianum instead of elegans. 

 (Fig. 187.) 



L. elegans is a native of Japan, where it is — as many Lilies— not onlv 

 a native, but also a cultivated plant. The Japanese have obtained several 

 seedlings w^hich are decidedly distinct enough to be grown under separate 

 names. The alw^ays brilliant colours vary from soft orange-yellow to the 

 deepest scarlet ; the height also of the stems varies a good deal, from twelve 

 to twenty-five inches, but as a rule they are of compact, dwarf habit. 

 The fiowers are always borne erect on stiff' stems : they are large, cup- 



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