1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRIOQLTCJRIST 
3-47 
faces placed east and west; and consequently their 
edges stand north and south. This fact has been 
denied by those who have observed the plant in 
enclosed and crowded gardens, but it is well estab¬ 
lished that on the open prairies, the leaves so gen¬ 
erally stand with their edges north and south as to 
entitle it to the name long ago given it, of “ Com¬ 
pass-plant.” This and another species (IS. terebin- 
thinaceum) exude from their stems a resinous mat¬ 
ter in the form of drops or tears, on which account 
the cup plant. —{Silphium perfoliatum.) 
Our Native Lilies. 
We have, east of the Mississippi, four admitted 
species of native lilies. Three of which are com¬ 
mon throughout the Northern States, and one 
southern species. These four are naturally divided 
into pairs, as in two of them, the parts of the flower 
which commonly pass for petals, are narrowed at 
the base to form a sort of stem, or claw , as it is 
termed botanically. These two are the “ Wild 
Orange-Red Lily,” (Lilium Phila- 
ddphicum), and the “Southern 
Red Lily,” (X. Calesbcei). In these 
the stems are about two feet 
high, the flowers are erect, and 
bell-shaped ; the first named has 
two or three on the stem, red- 
dish-orange with dark purple 
spots on the inside ; the other 
has a single flower to the stem, 
which is almost scarlet, and spot¬ 
ted with purple on a yellow 
ground. The other two have 
nodding flowers, with the parts 
not narrowed below, but are 
turned back, like those of the 
“ Turk’s-Cap ” lilies of the gar¬ 
dens. Of these two, the “ Can¬ 
ada,” or “ Wild Yellow Lily,” 
(X. Canadcnse) is from two to five 
feet high, with a few orange col¬ 
ored flowers, with brown spots. 
The “American Turk’s-Cap Li¬ 
ly,” ( L. superbum), grows three 
to seven feet high, with a py¬ 
ramidal cluster of many—some¬ 
times 20 to 40—flowers, bright 
orange-red in color, with many 
dark purple spots on the inside. 
Besides these, there has been de¬ 
scribed the “Carolina Lily,” (X. 
Carolinianum,) with few and yel¬ 
low flowers, but otherwise so 
like the last named, that it is 
usually regarded as a variety of 
it. Of these wild lilies, the first 
two are most generally found in 
sandy ground, while the other 
two grow in rich moist meadows, 
and low grounds. With the ex¬ 
ception of the southern species, 
they are not at all rare, and some, 
if not all, may be found in most 
localities. To those who are fond 
of cultivating flowers, these offer 
many attractions ; the bulbs may 
be transplanted with great ease, 
and in the rich soil of the gar¬ 
they are termed “Rosin-weeds,” and are, in some 
parts of the country, favorite horse remedies. The 
species above referred to are rather coarse for 
ordinary gardens, unless grown as curiosities, but 
there is one known as the Cup-plant, S. perfoliatum , 
which is sufficiently ornamental to deserve a place 
in gardens of sufficient size to allow of such large 
subjects. The Cup-plant throws up numerous 
stems from a perennial root; these, according to 
the soil, are from four to six, or even eight feet 
high. The stems are square, and bear ample oppo¬ 
site leaves, six inches to a foot long. These leaves 
are' curiously united by their lower portions, so 
that each pair forms a sort of cup which quite sur¬ 
rounds the stem, each joint of which appears to 
spring from the cavity thus formed. The engrav¬ 
ing, much reduced, from the upper part of a stem, 
shows this peculiar growth of the leaves. The 
plant is worth growing for this curious leaf struc¬ 
ture alone, but it produces a great abundance of 
flowers which make it ornamental as well as inter¬ 
esting. The heads of flowers are much like those 
of a small Sun-flower, with numerous bright yellow 
rays surrounding a greenish yellow disk. It keeps 
in flower a long time, and is one of those stately, 
robust looking plants which may be effectively in¬ 
troduced into large gardens where it can have suf¬ 
ficient room to develop itself without encroaching 
upon other plants. In a small border, of course 
such vigorous subjects are quite out of place. 
den, where they have not been forced from necessity 
to struggle against a crowd of other plants, they 
present a luxuriant growth, and an abundance of 
flowers, only rarely met with in their wild state. 
Not only do they vary considerably in the number 
of flowers and their size, but they present a marked 
variety in their color. In the wild state, our lilies 
puzzle botanists ; we have stated as to the last one, 
named (X. Carolinianum ), that it was regarded as 
distinct from the “ Turk’s-Cap,” (X. superbum), by 
some, while it is, by our best authorities, placed as 
a variety of that. But a greater difficulty presents 
itself; plants will occur so eveuly between the 
“Canada Lily” and the “Turk’s-Cap,” that it is diffi¬ 
cult to say to which they belong, and some doubt if 
the two are really distinct, and if the main differ¬ 
ence is not often all one of luxuriance of growth. 
When it comes to the question of color, the wild 
plants show the greatest variety. The “ W T ild 
Turk’s-Cap,” is usually described as having orange- 
red flowers; we have seen them when scarlet, and 
a deep scarlet would best describe the color. We 
recently saw in the grounds of Woolson & Co., 
Passaic N. J., a row of this lily, Lilium superbum, 
containing some hundreds in full bloom. These 
were from bulbs dug up in the country round 
about there, and the variety they presented, was 
most interesting. Some plants were not over two 
feet high, while others were nearly six feet, and in 
the number of flowers to the stem, the size of the 
individual flowers, and especially in their color, and 
markings, there was sufficient variety to induce 
some botanists to make many species. While we 
had seen here and there a few bulbs of our native 
lilies under cultivation, we never before saw them 
by the hundred, and we were more strongly than be¬ 
fore impressed with the great beauty of these natives 
of our meadows and bogs, and the inducements 
they offer to lovers of flowers, to bring them into 
cultivation. By careful selection, marked varieties 
the Columbian lily. —(Lilium Columbianum). 
may be obtained, and those who would experiment 
with seedlings, and especially in hybridizing, they 
present a field in which the amateur may reap rich 
results. Upon the western side of the continent 
there are species of Lilies resembling ours, and 
besides these, several, such as the Washington, 
and Parry’s Lilies, quite unlike our Eastern kinds, 
and more resembling the exotic species. Among 
those closely related to our Eastern Lilies is the 
Columbian Lily (X. Columbianum). This, which 
has been thought to be merely a form of our Wild 
Yellow Lily (X. Canadense), is now regarded by 
Mr. Sereno Watson, who has given special study to 
the genus, to be a good species. It is the common 
Lily of the northern portions of the Sierra Nevada, 
and is, as yet, but sparingly in cultivation. The 
engraving here given is from a specimen supplied 
by the firm above named. It grows from one to 
two feet high, and has whorls of very distant leaves. 
Its flowers, from two to five in number, are very 
small, being only about an inch and a half across ; 
with the parts turned strongly backwards; orange 
yellow, freely spotted with purple. This is an ex¬ 
ceedingly neat and interesting dwarf Lily, which 
we hope may soon be in general cultivation. 
The Money Value of Orcliids.—The report 
of a sale by auction, of a private collection of Or¬ 
chids, in London, a few weeks ago, gives one an 
idea of the money value of fine specimens of these 
charming plants. The whole collection brought. 
