Part 10

THE word Lily is derived from the Celtic, li, which signifies whiteness; also from the Greek, lirion. Probably the stately Lily of the garden, Lilium candidum, was the flower to which the name was first given, from its ivory whiteness and the exquisite polish of its petals. However that may be, the name LILY is ever associated in our minds with grace and purity, and reminds us of the Saviour of men, who spake of the lilies of the field, how they grew and nourished beneath the care of Him who clothed them in robes of beauty more gorgeous than the kingly garments of Royal Solomon.

Sir James Smith, one of the most celebrated of English botanists, suggests that the lilies alluded to by our Lord may have been Amarylis latea, or the Golden Lily of Palestine—the bright yellow blossoms of a plant which abounds in the fields of Judea, and at that moment probably caught his eye; their glowing colour aptly illustrating the subject on which he was about to speak.

The Lily has a wide geographical range, and may be found in some form in every clime.

There are Lilies that bloom within the cold influence of the frigid zone, as well as the more brilliant species that glow beneath the blazing suns of the equator in Africa and Southern Asia.

Dr. Richardson mentions, in his list of Arctic plants, Lilium Philadelphicum, our own gorgeous orange (or rather scarlet-spotted Lily). He remarks that it is called by the Esquimaux “MOUSE-ROOT,” from the fact that it is much sought after by the field mice, which feed upon the root. The porcupine also digs for it in the sandy soil in which it delights to grow.

In Kamtschatka the Lilium pomponium is used by the natives as an article of food; and in Muscovy the white Narcissus is roasted as a substitute for bread.

The healing qualities of the large white Lily roots and leaves are well known, applied in the form of a poultice to sores and boils. Thus are beauty and usefulness united in this most attractive plant.

The subject of our artist’s pencil, the ORANGE LILY, is widely spread over this portion of the American continent, as well as in the more sunny Western States of North America.

We find it, however, more frequently growing on open plain-lands, where the soil is sandy loam. In partially shaded grassy thickets in oak-openings, in the months of June and July, it may be seen mixed with the azure blue Lupine (Lupinus perennis), the golden flowered Moccasin (Cypripedium pubescens), Pyrola rotundifolia the large sweet-scented Wintergreen, and other charming summer flowers. Among these our gay and gorgeous Lily stands conspicuous.

The stem is from 1½ to 2 feet high. The leaves are narrow-pointed; of a dark green colour, growing in whorls at intervals round the stem. The flowers are from 1-3; large open bells, of a rich orange-scarlet within, spotted with purplish-brown or black. The outer surface of the petals is pale orange; anthers six, on long filaments; pollen of a brick red, or brown colour; stigma three cleft. The Lily belongs to the artificial class and order, Hexandria monogynia.

Many flowers increase in beauty of colour and size under cultivation in our gardens, but our glorious Lily can hardly be seen to greater advantage than when growing wild on the open plains and prairies, under the bright skies of its native wilderness.

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NAT. ORD. CAMPANULACEÆ.

CANADIAN HAREBELL. Campanula Rotundifolia.

“With drooping bells, of purest blue Thou didst attract my childish view, Almost resembling The azure butterflies that flew, Where ’mid the heath thy blossoms grew, So lightly trembling.”

THE same charming writer has also called the Harebell “the Flower of Memory,” and truly the sight of these fair flowers, when found in lonely spots in Canada, has carried one back in thought to the wild heathery moors or sylvan lanes of the mother country.

“I think upon the heathery hills I ae hae lo’ed sae dearly; I think upon the wimpling burn That wandered by sae clearly.”

But sylvan wooded lanes, and heathery moorlands are not characters of our Canadian scenery, and if we would seek the Harebell, we shall find it on the dry gravelly banks of lakes or rivers, or rocky islets, for these are its native haunts.

Although, in colour and shape of the blossom, the Canadian flower resembles the British one, it is more robust in its growth, less fragile—the flower stems being stouter, and the foot-stalk or pedicel stiffer and less pendulous, and yet sufficiently graceful. The root leaves, which are not very conspicuous during its flowering season, are round, heart-shaped. Those of the flower-stem are numerous, narrow and pointed. This pretty flower is variable in colour and foliage. Its general flowering season is July and August.

The corolla is bell-shaped or campanulate; 5 cleft; calyx lobes, awl shaped, persistent on the seed vessel; stamens 5, style 1, stigmas 2; seed vessel several celled and many seeded; in height the plant varies from a few inches to a foot; number of flowers varying from a few to many.

We have but three known species in Canada, Campanula Americana, “a large handsome species being found in Western Canada;” and C. aparinoides. The rough-leaved Bellflower is found in marshes and in thickets where the soil is poor but the atmosphere moist; it is of a climbing or rather clinging habit; the weak slender stem, many branched, laying hold of the grasses and low shrubs that surround it for support, which its rough teeth enable it to do very effectually; in habit it resembles the smaller Galium, or Lady’s bedstraw. The delicate bell-shaped flowers are marked with fine purple lines within, at the base of the white corolla. The leaves of this species are narrow-linear, rough, with minutely-toothed hairs; the flowers are few, and fade very quickly. The name campanula is from campana, a bell.

The Harebell has often formed the theme of our modern poets, as illustrative of grace and lightness. In the Lady of the Lake we have this pretty couplet when describing Ellen:

“E’en the light Harebell raised its head, Elastic from her airy tread.”

Our Artist has availed herself of the Canadian Harebell to give airy lightness to her group of natives flowers.

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Professor Hincks.

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NAT. ORD. ORCHIDACEÆ.