Part 12

Krameri is like japonicum, but taller, and with pink flowers.

Leichtlini, 3 to 4 feet high, with drooping citron-yellow flowers heavily spotted with purple.

Longiflorum, a very handsome Lily, 2 to 3 feet high, with large tubular pure white flowers. There are many so-called varieties of this species, including Harrisi, eximium, and Takesima--all very popular for forcing in pots for greenhouses (see Plate 25, fig. 94).

Martagon, the "Turk's Cap," Lily, 2 to 3 feet high, with many tiers of drooping purple-red or violet-rose flowers, spotted with carmine, but white in the tall growing variety album (see Plate 26, fig. 95).

Monadelphum (or Loddigesianum) is a vigorous Lily, 3 to 5 feet high, with soft bright yellow flowers, which in the variety Szovitsianum (or colchicum) are spotted with blackish-purple (see Plate 26, fig. 98).

Pardalinum, known as the "Leopard Lily," grows 3 to 8 feet high, and has drooping orange-red flowers spotted with dark purple at the base. There are several varieties, some being more highly coloured and spotted than others.

Roezli, 2 to 3 feet high, with dark blotched orange-red flowers.

Speciosum, also well-known as lancifolium, grows 2 to 3 feet high, and has white flowers suffused with rose, the lower portion of the segments being deeper in colour, and covered with papillae. There are many varieties such as album, white; Kraetzeri, white tinged with green down the centre; Melpomene, deep crimson-purple, &c.

Tenuifolium, so called from its grass-like leaves, grows 1 to 2 feet high, and has small drooping scarlet blossoms (see Plate 25, fig. 92).

Tigrinum, the "Tiger Lily," with woolly stems 2 to 4 feet high, and deep orange-red flowers heavily spotted with blackish-purple. (See Plate 24, fig. 90.)

III. LILIES THAT FLOURISH IN VERY MOIST BUT WELL-DRAINED SANDY LOAM, PEAT, AND LEAF-SOIL. THEY ARE EXCELLENT FOR PLANTING IN SHADY BORDERS, UNDER NORTH WALLS, OR BY THE SIDE OF PONDS, &c.

Burbanki, a fine hybrid between pardalinum and Parryi. Flowers, pale orange-yellow, spotted with chocolate and flushed with crimson at the tips. A single stem often has as many as twenty or thirty blooms upon it.

Canadense, a rhizomatous "Turk's Cap" Lily, 2 to 4 feet high, with drooping funnel-shaped flowers varying in colour from bright orange-red to pale red, the upper portion of the segments being heavily spotted with purple-brown. (See Plate 23, figs. 88 and 89.) There are several forms such as rubrum, flavum, parvum, &c.

Catesbaei, an elegant species, 1 to 2 feet high, having erect bell-shaped flowers of a bright orange-red heavily spotted with purple.

Cordifolium, a very distinct-looking Lily, 3 to 4 feet high, having broadly heart-shaped ovate leaves, and tubular white flowers with violet-brown spots at the base.

Grayi is closely related to canadense, but has deep crimson flowers heavily blotched with purple at the yellowish base.

Maritimum is a pretty Lily, 3 to 5 feet high, with small deep red bell-shaped flowers spotted with dark purple.

Parryi is another rhizomatous Lily, 2 to 6 feet high. The more or less drooping flowers are citron-yellow, spotted with purple-brown, and are sweetly fragrant.

Superbum is known as the "Swamp Lily" of North America. It has creeping rhizomes which produce bulbs at intervals, and the violet-purple stems grow 4 to 10 feet high. The drooping orange-red flowers, sometimes as many as twenty to forty on a stem, are heavily spotted with violet-purple. The variety carolinianum (also known as autumnale and Michauxianum) has flowers like those of the type, but the plants only grow about 2 feet high.

PLATE 25. LILIUM TENUIFOLIUM (92) LILIUM HANSONI (93) LILIUM LONGIFLORUM (94)

Most of the Lilies described in these three sections may be grown in beds by themselves on the grass, or they may be planted in clumps in borders or shrubberies where they will have plenty of space and enough sunshine to enable them to develop fully. The peat-loving kinds--those in the second and third sections--are excellent for planting amongst such plants as Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Kalmias, and other peat-loving shrubs.

=LYCORIS squamigera.=--This distinct Japanese plant is closely related to the Belladonna Lily (see p. 51). It has rather long-necked roundish bulbs, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and strap-shaped leaves about a foot long. From July to September, after the leaves have withered, the large sweet-scented rosy-lilac flowers (see Plate 32, fig. 116) are borne on a stout stalk 2 to 3 feet high. This plant may be grown out of doors in the milder parts of the kingdom in warm sheltered spots, such as against a well on a south border. It likes rich well-drained sandy loam and leaf-soil, but grows freely in ordinary good garden soil. There are other species that may probably succeed in the open air in the same way, such as aurea, golden-yellow; straminea, pale yellow with a pink central line and red dots; and radiata, bright red.

=MERENDERA Bulbocodium.=--A pretty Pyrenean plant closely related to Bulbocodium vernum. It grows only 3 or 4 inches high, and produces its rosy-lilac funnel-shaped flowers in autumn at the same time as some of the true Colchicums. The narrow sickle-shaped leaves appear after the flowers are over and remain fresh and green till spring. There are a few other species, but they are practically unknown in gardens. The Merendera may be grown exactly in the same way as the Colchicums, in the border, rock-garden, or best of all in the grass. The stock may be increased by offsets and seeds.

=MILLA biflora.=--There is now only one Milla, the plants formerly known under that name being now included in the genus Brodiaea (see p. 56). M. biflora has rather small bulbs with fleshy roots and narrow, grass-like, blue-green leaves. The pretty pure white salver-shaped blossoms appear in August and September usually two to four on stems about 6 inches high. Being a native of Mexico, M. biflora should be grown in warm sheltered spots in the rock-garden or border, in a rich sandy loam, the bulbs being planted about 4 inches deep. Increased by offsets.

=MUSCARI= (Grape Hyacinth).--A charming class of plants with roundish bulbs about 1 inch in diameter, narrow leaves, and conical clusters of urn-shaped or tubular blossoms drooping from stems 3 to 6 inches high. Although the Grape Hyacinths may be easily grown in patches or edgings in the ordinary flower border, there is no place that shows off their sheets of brilliant blue blossoms so well as a grassy bank, or a nook in the rockery, where they should be planted in large numbers. They naturally like a rich and well drained soil with plenty of grit or sand in it, and some leaf-soil. The bulbs should be planted about 3 inches deep in September and October, and when naturalised in the grass may be left for several seasons without being disturbed. Most of the kinds blossom in March, April, and May, and are easily increased by offsets. Seeds may also be sown (see p. 36).

The following is a selection of the best kinds. The flowers are blue in all cases, except where otherwise mentioned, and the general appearance of the blossoms is as shown by M. conicum in Plate 12, fig. 48:--Armeniacum; botryoides, with a white-flowered variety album; comosum, the monstrous form of which, with twisted and wavy bluish-violet filaments, is known as the Ostrich Feather Hyacinth; conicum (see Plate 12, fig. 48), of which there is a beautiful brilliant blue variety called "Heavenly Blue." Heldreichi, like botryoides, but larger; Maweanum; neglectum; racemosum; amphibolus porcelain blue; and Szovitsianum.

There are other colours besides blue among the Grape Hyacinths. Thus the "Musk Hyacinth" (M. moschatum) has sweet-scented blossoms which change from purple at first to greenish-yellow tinged with violet. It has a yellow flowered variety called flavum or macrocarpum. Some forms of neglectum are salmon-pink, while the blossoms of M. paradoxum might be described almost as black.

=NARCISSUS= (Daffodil).--What so charming in the spring-time as "a host of Golden Daffodils"? The varieties are now almost legion, and they are still being added to by enthusiastic hybridists in various parts of the kingdom. The crossing of one section with another may possibly worry the botanist, but there is no fear that the gardener will not welcome any new variety that may be raised. Although thousands of the older Daffodils may be bought for a few shillings, the rarer varieties still command a respectably high price, and will naturally continue to do so until the stock has been considerably increased.