October 22, 1885. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
367 
more useful throughout the entire winter. The Eucharis, which was 
noted before, Pancratiums in variety, Jasminum sambac and others, 
Daphne indica alba, and Tabemacmontana flore-pleno, any one or all of 
which are as pure and delicate as the Stephanotis or Gardenia. Most of 
them are fragrant, and all are white. 
I am glad to see Mr. Pearson call attention to the statement of Mr. 
Jenkins respecting the price of Gardenia blooms ; 2d. each is a great deal 
nearer the mark than 50s. per dozen. Did ever anybody sell a Gardenia 
bloom for 4s.? I was never offered £10 to find a mealy bug in the 
Chilwell Nurseries, but the late Mr. Pearson has told me more than once 
that he would give me a sovereign if I could find one, and I never won 
it; but how few could say this. “ C. S. R.” must be possessed of a very 
meek and mild type of mealy bug if it is exterminated by soapsuds. I 
congratulate him on making such a valuable discovery.—J. Muir. 
These are two favourites here, and I should be very sorry to see 
them discarded. As to bug. we have none on the place, nor anything to 
speak of in the way of insects that disfigure or injure plants. When we 
had our stock of Gardenias a few mealy bugs were introduced with them, 
but by c mstantly syringing with clean water they were soon dislodged. 
I know what a trouble this pest is in many places, but venture to think I 
should soon put an end to them if I had to deal with them.—J. Merritt. 
LILIUM SZOVITZIANUM 
Among hardy bulbous plants the Lilies have long stood pre¬ 
eminent for their beauty and stately grandeur, and recent introduc¬ 
tions have invested this genus with much additional popularity. Lew 
Fig. 57.—Lilium Szovitzianum 
of the more recently introduced species, however, exceed in interest 
L. Szovitzianum, first cultivated in this country under the name of 
L. colchicutn, by Messrs. H. Low & Co., of the Clapton Nurseries. 
In the case of strong bulbs the stem reaches the height of from 
3 to 4 feet, and yields from six to ten drooping flowers disposed in a 
scattered raceme. In the fully developed blossom the petals are 
more revolute than in the figure. The colour is a brilliant citron 
yellow speckled internally with purple crimson, and stained at the 
base externally with dull purple. The flowers exhale the most 
delicious and powerful fragrance, perceptible at some distance, and it 
is in fact a question whether any other of the numerous species of 
this genus exceeds it in the sweetness and diffusiveness of its per¬ 
fume. 
The foliage is scattered, broadly lanceolate, smooth above, but 
paler and somewhat hairy on the under surface and on the margins. 
Bulb rather large with yellowish scales. By the best authorities this 
plant is regarded as but a variety of the L. monadelphum, from 
which it is distinguished by its stamens not being united at the base, 
by the red colour of its poiJen, by its longer style, as well as by some 
other minute characters. Like most of the species it is quite hardy 
against cold, and will succeed in any good substantial garden soil as 
well as in peat, but is liable to suffer from excessive wet, and prej 
cautions should therefore be taken to insure thorough drainage. 
Should the conditions of local climate render it desirable protection 
against heavy rainfalls may be afforded by placing over the bulb 
a large, inverted flower pot, the opening being closed in wet weather. 
Owing to the somewhat slow rate of increase of the bulbs of this 
genus, new species are less rapidly disseminated than in the case of 
plants readily propagated by seeds, and Lilium Szovitzianum is there¬ 
fore, in common with several other recently imported species, rather 
rare and expensive. It is true that most, if not all of the Lilies, 
ripen seed under favourable circumstances, which vegetates quickly 
if sown as soon as gathered, but several years usually elapse before 
the bulbs are of sufficient size to flower. 
Notwithstanding this drawback, however, we do not hesitate to 
recommend to those of our readers who may be endowed with a 
sufficient stock of patience the propagation of the Lily tribe by 
seed.—\V. T. 
CHOICE BULBS. 
IXIOLIRION. 
Ixiolirion MOntanUM. —This is a most beautiful hardy bulb from 
Syria, but being yet so scarce in Europe, it deserves the treatment and 
care of the half hardy-race. It goes to rest in winter, rises in spring, and 
flowers with us in May under the same treatment as the Squills—that is, 
in any light rich border. The bulb is not much larger than that of a 
strong Dutch-grown Crocus. The stalk is from 1 foot to 18 inches high, 
bearing long narrow leaves and bracts; the flower stalk, or peduncle, 
rises from these bracts near the top, and some of them are terminal from 
a cluster of bracts, and they generally come in pairs ; the colour is a 
brilliant blue. Altogether, it is a fine thing for the borders in May. Col. 
Chesney met with it in great abundance in Palestine and other places in 
the east, flowering in April, and his account of it led to the supposition in 
this country that it must have been the “ Lily of the Field ” referred to in 
the Sermon on the Mount. The White Lily (L. candidumj could not be 
the one alluded to, as was long believed, because none of the multitude 
could know that plant, it not being a native of any part of Syria. The 
“Lily of the Field” is now, by common consent, believed to be the 
scarlet Chalcedonian Lily, which grows in abundance about Galilee and 
all round those parts. 
Ixiolirion tartaricum. —This is rather smaller in all the parts than 
montanum, and there are slight differences of botanical separation be¬ 
tween the two, yet all that may have been owing to the difference of soil 
and situation where this was found on the Altai range. 
Ixiolirion scythicum. —This is another of the forms, but a much smaller 
plant than the other two. They were all referred to Amaryllis by those 
botanists who first discovered them, but Dr. Fischer of St. Petersburg 
divided them from that group and named the genus. The three are pro¬ 
bably in the Russian botanic collections ; they are well worth inquiring 
after. Some of our consuls in the east might fish them out of the troubled 
waters after political storms subside. What a pretty group these Ixiolirions 
would make in a border, with such blue flowers as Camassia esculenta 
from North America, the Cummingias from Chili, the Dianellas from New 
Holland, and the Squills of our own land. 
Leucocoryne. —This genus was separated from Brodiaea by Dr. Lindley 
chiefly on account of three of the stamens being barren. Two of them, 
odorata and alliacea, have white flowers about the size of Crocus flowers, 
and ixioides is a light blue flower, as pretty as anyone could wish for 
They are natives of the south of Chili, and all but hardy, and also all but 
impracticable to keep any length of time under ordinary cultivation. 
There are some flowers from Texas which seem on a par with them, the 
Cobaeas and Pentstemon, for instance. Extreme cold at the roots when 
they are growing, very warm overhead at the same time, and a scorching 
heat both for top and bottom when at rest, are the conditions under which 
they flourish in a state of nature. Mr. W. Rae, the collector sent out by 
the Horticultural Society, found odorata in bloom high up in the south of 
Chili, where the snow had melted only a few days before. 
No gardener has ever yet been able to cultivate the Cloudberry as a 
fruit plant. The fruit is about the same size, shape, and oolour as the 
Roseberry Strawberry. Few gardeners can manage some Pentstemons and 
Cobseas ; and, I believe, fewer still the Leucocorynes and bulbs of such 
habits. I have grown ixioides myself as well as it ever was or will be, 
by placing the bare bulbs on a slate shelf covered with an inch of sand all 
over, and from end to end, the sand being constantly wet all the summer 
from watering the pots of other plants which stood on the stage. 
Libertia. —These are not actually bulbs, but they look as if they 
ought to be bulbs, and might be grown in a border without prejudice to a 
collection of bulbs. They are Iris-looking plants, with the flowers shaped 
as in the Peacock Iris or Sisyrinchiums and Cypellas. They grow in 
either peat or sandy loam ; formosa, the Chilian plant, is all but hardy, if 
not quite so. The Australian ones, frame plants, that would grow and 
flower out of doors during the summer. Mr. Anderson, who sent home 
Fuchsia microphylla, found Libertia formosa in the Island of Chiloe 
growing down to the edge of the tide, whence he sent it and other 
curiosities to Mr. Low of the Clapton Nursery many years ago. 
Grandiflora is an older plant from New Zealand ; paniculata, fine, and 
pulchella, from New Holland, are quite as gay as any of their allies, 
the Moraeas, from the Cape ; paniculata, and the snow-white flowers of 
formosa would make a desirable cross, besides rendering the panicled 
breed more hardy. It will be difficult to find them in collections, as they 
go under various names, as Sisyrinchium, Morsea, Marica, and Iris. 
Marica. —This genus, with its beautiful ephemeral flowers is also 
out of its place here. They are neither bulbs nor half-hardy, but 
stove plants, with the habits if the common Iris ; yet I have seen them 
