Volume 9 — PLATE DLXXXVI. LILIUM SPECIOSUM. Showy Lily.

CLASS VI. ORDER I.

HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Six Chives. One Pointal.

ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER.

Corolla 6-petala, campanulata: nectarium linea longitudinalis: capsulæ valvulis pilo cancellato connexis.

Blossom 6-leaved, bell-shaped. Nectary a longitudinal line. Valves of the seed-pod connected with a lattice-work of hairs.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Lilium foliis sparsis, ovato-oblongis: floribus cernuis mox revolutis: caule ramoso.

Lilium speciosum. Willd. Sp. Pl.

Lily with scattered oval-oblong leaves: the flowers nodding, soon rolled back, and the stem branching.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

We can but seldom have the pleasure of recording so valuable an acquisition to our collections as this truly magnificent species, introduced from China by the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks about the year 1807, and a figure of it also published by him in 1791, being plate 47 of the Icones Selectæ, from drawings made in Japan by Kæmpfer, and now deposited in the British Museum. The woolliness and bulbs on the stem in our specimen, and the want of constriction at the base of the leaves, (if any such ever exists in nature,) differ considerably from the figure above quoted; but the strong general resemblance, and a consideration of the many variations to which other species of this genus are subject, induce us to regard it as a variety from the same common stock. The stem rises to between three and four feet in height, and sometimes even higher; and produces from three to nine or more flowers, according to its strength and situation. The bulb which it produces from the base of every leaf forms a future plant, and thus to unrivalled beauty adds abundance. Its time of flowering enhances its value, being in August, when all other lilies have deserted the parterre. Mr. Williams, nurseryman at Turnham Green, favoured us with the specimen.