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704 
LI'LIN, a town of China, of the third rank, in Hou- 
quang: forty miles fouth-eaft of Tchang-cha. 
LIL'IO-ASPIIOD'ELUS. See Crinum and Hemero- 
C AL LIS. 
LIL'IO-HYACIN'THUS. See Scilla. 
LIL'IO-NARCIS'SUS. See Amaryllis and Pancra¬ 
tium. 
LI'LITH, [Heb. the night.] The name of a woman 
who was fuppofed by the Jews to have been the wife of 
Adam before Eve. An imaginary fpedtre who was fup¬ 
pofed to carry away or deftroy young children. Scott. 
LIL'IUM,/ [*eio;, Gr. fmooth, alfo handfome.] The 
Lily; in botany, a genus of the clafs hexandria, order 
monogynia, natural order of coronarise, (lilia, JuJf. Roy, 
&c. lileee, Salijb.') The generic charaffers are—Calyx: 
none. Corolla: fix-petalled, bell-lhaped, narrowed be¬ 
neath; petals upright, incumbent, obtufely carinated on 
the back, gradually more expanding, wider; with thick, 
reflex, obtufe tips. Nectary; a longitudinal tubular line, 
engraven on each petal from the bafe to the middle. The 
neftary in fome is bearded, in others beardlefs; petals in 
fome totally revolute, in others not fo. Stamina: fila¬ 
ments fix, awl-lhaped, upright, (horter than the corolla ; 
anthers oblong, incumbent. Piftillum : germ oblong, cy- 
lindric, (iriated with fix furrows; ftyle cylindric, length 
of the corolla; ftigma thickifh, triangular. Pericarpium : 
capfule oblong, fix-furrowed, with a three-cornered, hol¬ 
low, obtufe tip ; three-celled, three-valved ; the valves 
connedled by hairs difpofed in a cancellated manner. 
Seeds numerous, incumbent in a twin order; flat out¬ 
wardly lemi-orbicular.— EJfaitial CharaEttr. Corolla : fix- 
petalled, bell-lhaped ; with a longitudinal ne&areous line; 
capfule, the valves connected by cancellated hairs. 
Species, i. Lilium candidum, or common white lily: 
leaves fcattered, corollas bell-lhaped, fmooth within. The 
common white lily has a large bulb, from which proceed 
feveral fucculent fibres. Stem flout, round, upright, ulu- 
ally about three feet in height. Leaves numerous, long, 
narrow pointed, fmooth, feffile. Flowers large, white, 
terminating the ftem in adulter on fhort peduncles. Pe¬ 
tals within of a beautiful Ihining white; on the outfide 
ridged, and lefs luminous. Native of the Levant. Lin¬ 
naeus alfigns it to Syria. Thunberg gives it as a native 
of Japan, and obferves that the corolla is there near a fpan 
in length, and that it varies with a villofe ftem. Haller 
-infer.ts it in the Swifs Flora; it is not indigenous there, 
but muft have elcaped from a garden. It flowers in June 
and July, and has been cultivated in England time imme¬ 
morial. In Gerard’s time (1597) it was in molt gardens. 
The flowers of the lily were formerly confidered as anti¬ 
epileptic and anodyne; a diflilled water of them was em¬ 
ployed as a cofmetic; and oil of lilies was fuppofed to 
poflefs anodyne and nervine powers; but their odorous 
matter, though very powerful, is totally diflipated in dry¬ 
ing, and entirely carried off in diftillation either with 
fpirit or water, and no effential oil can be obtained from 
them. The roots only are now in ufe ; (fee the firft Botany 
Plate, fig. 14. in our third volume;) they are extremely 
mucilaginous, and are chiefly employed in emollient and 
fuppurating cataplalms, boiied with milk or water: phy¬ 
sicians however are generally of opinion that bread or meal 
poultices poflefs every advantage of thofe prepared from 
the lily-root. From fome experiments that were made in 
the year 1802, they feem to poflefs a much more valuable 
property ; namely, that their mucilaginous quality might 
make them ufeful as a fubftitute for gum-arabic. Mr. 
Willis had previoufly made experiments with the roots of 
the Hyacinthus non fcriptus, or hare-bell; and the mu¬ 
cilage produced from them had been found to anfwer the 
fame purpofe, quantity for quantity, with gum-arabic, in 
fixing the calico-printer’s colours,. The filver medal of 
the Society of Arts was voted to him that year; and his 
next experiments were made with the Scilla verna, or ver¬ 
nal fquill; and afterwards with the lily. “On the 18th 
of Augufl, 1802, I colle&ed four pounds of the white- 
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lily roof, which yielded, when dried, rather more than 
one pound of powder. A dram of it was diffolved in four 
ounces of water, by gently boiling it a minute or two ; 
the mucilage was much ftronger than that made with the 
vernal fquill, but fomewhat darker coloured. This root 
may poflibly anfwer the fame purpofes better than thofe 
above-mentioned. The powder of the lily-root leaves a 
bitternefs on the tongue. Twelve ounces of the freth 
roots of the white lily, being bruifed and prefled, yielded 
by evaporation one ounce and one quarter of brown gum. 
There being a fmall quantity of it, I made no trial with 
it; but very probably the exprefled juice might be ufed 
by the calico-printers with advantage. Thefie roots can 
be procured at all times, and propagated to any extent; 
but it muft be oblerved, that theie bulbous roots are 
ffronger when they are without (lems, or only beginning 
to (hoot out leaves; and the prefent time (March) is as 
proper as any that can be for procuring them. And I 
imagine, that, if the roots were bruifed and ufed frefli, 
they would anfwer better than when dried and pow¬ 
dered.” 
The principal varieties of the white lily are, 1. With 
the flowers ftriped or blotched with purple. 2. With va¬ 
riegated or ftriped leaves, or with the leaves edged with 
yellow. 3. With double flowers. 4. With pendulous 
flowers, which Miller and others confider as a diftindt 
fpecies. 
The firft variety has not been in England much longer 
than the year 1729. It is now become common ; but, the 
purple marks giving the flower a dull colour, the com¬ 
mon w hite is generally preferred. The fecond variety is 
chiefly valued for its appearance in winter andfpring; for 
the leaves coming out early in the autumn, fpreading 
themfelves flat on the ground, and being finely edged with 
a broad yellow band, make a pretty appearance during 
the winter and fpring months. It flowers earlier than the 
plain fort. The third variety is of little value, becaufc 
the flowers never open well unlefs they are covered with 
glafles; nor have they any of the rich odour of the com¬ 
mon fort. The fourth variety (, 3 ) came originally from 
Conftantinople. The (talk is much more (lender; the 
leaves are narrower and fewer in number; the flowers not 
quite fo large, and the petals more contracted at the bafe; 
they always hang downwards. The (talks are fometimes 
very broad and flat (7), appearing as if two or three 
were joined together; when this happens, they fullain 
from lixty to one hundred flowers, and fometimes more. 
This however is merely accidental, for the fame root 
fcarcely ever produces the fame two years. 
2. Lilium Japonicum, or Japan white lily: leaves fcat¬ 
tered, lanceolate; corollas drooping, fubcampanulate. 
Stem round, fmooth, and even, two feet high. Leaves 
alternate, petioled, acuminate, margined, fmooth, a hand 
and half in length, paler underneath, three-nerved or five- 
nerved. Flow'er terminating, reflex and hanging down ; 
corolla white, a hand in diameter. It differs from the 
preceding, to which it is allied, in having a weaker ftem, 
luftaining only one flower; and fewer leaves on the ftem, 
remote, very long, petioled and nerved. Native of Japan. 
3. Lilium Catelbsi, or Catefby’s lily : leaves fcattered, 
lanceolate; corolla upright, beil-fliaped, petals with claws. 
Of the lilies cultivated in this country, this is one of the 
lead, the whole plant when in bloom being frequently 
little more than a foot high: in its native foil it is deferibed 
as growing to the height of two feet. The ftalk is termi¬ 
nated by one upright flower: it is purple, (lender, up¬ 
right, round, fmooth with a (light glaucous bloom on it, 
(olid, ftiflilh. The flower has no (cent. This lily was firft 
obferved by Catelby on open moiftfavannas in many parts 
of Carolina. He fays that the bulb is about the fize of a 
walnut; that the petals turn back in a graceful manner, 
and are tapering, terminating in points, and edged with 
fmall indentures; and that the whole flower is varioully 
(haded with red, orange, and lernon, colours. Mr. Curtis, 
to whom roots were fent from South-Carolina by Mr. Ro¬ 
bert 
