THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
flowering species and its stamens and stigmas ^aeld the 
saffron of commerce. The best comes from Spain and is 
i^sed not onl^^ in medicine but for its coloring properties. 
The so-called autumn crocus or Colchichum does not even 
belong to the same family. 
Everybody knows the pretty little blue squills, Scilla 
Siberica and other species, a near relative ot the onion and 
Ornithogalum Ui236e/7attzn3 or " star of Bethlehem." The 
squills, however, possess bright blue, fragrant flowers 
and long narrow leaves. They occur naturally in 
England, and several species are cultivated. 
I Before any of these are well out of bloom, I generally 
ijotice that my crownimperial is up, but perhaps owing 
to my pronounced Republican principles, it refuses for me 
to don its coronal. It is an old-fashioned flower, bad- 
smelling but handsome and especially notable for the 
large, opaline glands on the inside of each segment of the 
perianth. These are honey-secreting. Again, the nodding 
position of the flower protects it from rain. Its cousin 
the guinea-hen Fritillaria is more peculiar than beautiful. 
The name Fritillaria, by the way, is said to be derived 
frQm "fritillus," a checker-board, from the mottled aspect 
Qf this species. 
i If I had my way, which means room and money, I 
should have one entire bed of narcissus. What a clean- 
CUt type it is ! Every line is decided. There is the white, 
pure poeticus, with ruby-tinted crown, the glorious golden 
trumpets of dafladil — "ten thousand saw I at a glance," 
and then the canary fluff of a doubled jonquil. There are 
small, delicate kinds, too, very dainty. 
Hardly are these in full bloom, when lo ! the hyacinths 
light up their beacons. They revel in most of the colors 
of the palette but seem to feel the weight of their respon- 
sibility ; they droop heavily on their inefficient stems. I 
hate to uproot a hyacinth but. as a matter of fact, the 
new bulbs planted fresh each year do the best. The old 
ones gradually run out. 
So is it, too, with tulips, and both, so far as culture 
