PARK AND CEMETERY. 
195 
\ 
WHITE LILIES. (Pancratiums .) 
INN^AUS in his “Philoso- 
phy of Botany” gives the 
“natural” as the last of the 
three characters used in the 
description of plants. 
A natural family, or or- 
der is composed of several 
genera of plants, which by 
haying some common mark 
of resemblance, receive a 
name, based upon this general character. In many 
cases the name comes from the most conspicuous 
genus belonging to it, as the Rosacea; of rose-like 
plants and Liliacsea of lily-like bulbs. 
The order Liliaca:a consists of herbs, shrubs or 
trees with bulbs, corms, rhyzoma or fibrous roots, 
simple, sheathing or clasping flowers. All lilies are 
herbs with scaly bulbs, whence arise the tall and 
rather slender stalks, furnished with alternate or 
somewhat whorled leaves, bearing upon their sum- 
mit erect, or drooping flowers, characterized by 
purity, elegance and sweet perfume. 
The typical genus lilium or true lily embraces 
the considerable number of ninety, as far as known. 
They are scattered over the world in all temperate 
parts. 
The lilies native to the United States are as fine 
as any in the world and embrace a large number. 
Pancratiums, or in local nomenclature “Gray- 
son lilies,” “Cup lilies,” “Swamp lilies” and most 
common of all, “Spider lilies” aresnow-white lilies 
native to the swamp lands of Mississippi, Alabama, 
Louisiana and Florida. Gray says Pancratium 
comes from the Greek word all-powerful, for which 
he sees no meaning. Probably the learned botan- 
ist failed to see them at home on the rivers, bayous, 
savannahs, lakes and water-ways of the Southern 
borders. “All-powerful” is what they naturally 
suggest. From every strong bulb six or eight, 
sometimes ten bloom-stalks shoot up, and the long, 
strap-shaped leaves as broad as a saddle-girth are 
bright and shining green. Below about 35 degrees 
the leaves are evergreen. Every stalk bears a clus- 
ter of pure white blooms and the construction of 
these beautiful lilies warrants the assertion that they 
are the eccentric members of the class. The long, 
lanceolate, snow-white perianth surrounding the 
central, upright cup, also pure white, is unlike any 
other lily, and imparts an unique and very graceful 
appearance to the bloom. 
They are profuse and constant bloomers and so 
densely do they grow in their native haunts that 
above the luxuriant masses of green ferns, flags, 
tall grasses, reeds and aquatics the spreading blooms 
upheld on tall stalks are like white- pinioned birds 
in flight, and from the deck of a passing boat, car 
window, or other point of view the efiect is fascin- 
ating. 
No wildling takes more kindly to culture, and 
no lily fills so many different places as these. Under 
the drip of the fountain, or bordering any water- 
way, they are beautiful; and equally as well aie 
they set out, in exposed places, if they get plenty 
of water during the summer time. The long, strap- 
shaped leaves make crowns and from all sides grace- 
fully fall, extending like fountains of green, no mear> 
ornament for any position. The blooms are wax- 
like in construction and the writer was sending some 
flowers to a sweet girl graduate, one June, and be- 
ing in doubt about the beautifulspider lily’s lasting; 
qualities culled some blooms and kept them in water 
as an experiment. They stood the test. Thirty-six 
hours afterwards they were perfectly fresh. The 
bloom stalk is large, cylindrical and hollow and 
should really only be cut when elaborate floral dis- 
play is wanted, but the separate stem to each of 
the four or six lilies that are borne on the terminus 
is just about three inches long and therefore con- 
venient for cut-flower purposes. 
Pancratiums flower from May till frost in which 
they differ from all other lilies. Although native to- 
all southern lands, and apparently semi-aquatic, 
they are perfectly hardy in northern sections if a 
few general rules are observed. First of all, and 
last, and most important, bed them deeply in mel- 
low soil This enables them to resist the severest 
cold. Two and three feet, more rather than less,. 
