Secretary, Chicago Academy of Sciences.
Fair flower, that, lapt in lowly glade,
Dost hide beneath the greenwood shade,
Than whom the vernal gale
None fairer wakes, on bank or spray
Our England's lily, of the May,
Our lily of the vale!
Of thy twin-leaves the embowered screen,
Which wraps thee in thy shroud of green;
Thy Eden-breathing smell;
Thy arch'd and purple-vested stem,
Whence pendant many a pearly gem,
Displays a milk-white bell.
--_Bishop Mant._
The lily of the valley is one of the most delicate and beautiful of
the lily family (_Liliaceæ_). With the exception of the orchid family
probably no group of plants furnishes a larger variety of popular forms
noted alike for their beauty and delicacy.
It has been truly said of the lily family that "the flowers of most
are beautiful, of many brilliant, and of some truly splendid." This
family contains about one hundred and fifty genera and over thirteen
hundred species. They are world-wide in their distribution, excepting
the Arctic zone, though they are more common in the temperate and
subtropical regions.
Among the species sought by the lover of cultivated flowers none is
more noteworthy than the tulip, a native of Persia. It is claimed that
there are more than seven hundred forms of the tulip known to the
florist--all variations of a single species.
The type of the family is the lily. The lily is the Persian
personification of night, _lil_ or _lilleh_ being essentially the words
used to designate evening. It is the Indo-Iranian analogue of the rose,
which in countries speaking the romance languages, as well as in China,
stands for a symbol of secrecy and was planted over graves as an emblem
of immortality.
To this family also belong the day-lily, the tuberose, the hyacinth,
the yucca, and the star-of-Bethlehem. Here also is classed the useful
though much-abused onion, the flowers of which, though small, form
a most graceful group at the top of the stem, especially in the wild
species.
Asparagus is usually placed in this family and many species, such as
squills and the varieties of aloes, are highly valued in medicine. In
fact it may be said that the family "abounds in a bitter, stimulant
principle and also in mucilage." It is of interest that some of the
species of this family were prized by the Greeks and Romans for their
medicinal value. The name for aloes in both languages refers to the
bitter principle, and no name could be more appropriate, as the extract
is intensely bitter.
The lily of the valley (_Convallaria majalis, L._) is a native of the
mountainous regions of Virginia and southward through Georgia. It is
identical with the cultivated form which was brought from Europe.
The generic name _Convallaria_ from two Latin words meaning "with" and
"valley," having reference to its habit of growing on mountain sides.
This sweet-scented plant has an underground stem which sends up a
stalk that bears, chiefly on one side, numerous nodding white flowers.
The oblong leaves, usually two in number, rise from the base of the
flower-stalk, which is sheathed by their stems.
The pure white of the flowers as well as their symmetrical form has
led writers to speak of them as the symbol of purity, and no flower,
perhaps, is in greater demand for the decoration of the church and
home.