The flower spike forms a perfect cone or pyramid. The blossoms are very small—about one and a quarter inches across—and borne on stalks which grow out at right angles to the main stem. These stalks gradually diminish in length as they get towards the top, thus producing the characteristic cone shape. The nodding blossoms are of a lilac-purple, splashed and spotted with claret colour. The pollen is red, the segments of the perianth are fleshy and very much curled.
There are several well-marked varieties of the _Martagon_ lilies. The variety _Dalmaticum_, as its name implies, is found in Dalmatia. It is a finer plant than the type. The leaves are deep glossy green, and the flowers are very dark purple. In another variety called _Cattaneae_, the flowers are still darker, appearing in some lights to be quite black.
There is a white variety of the _Martagon_ lily, a lovely little gem, which, though rare, is one of the easiest culture. It is curious that this is the only variety in the whole group of _Martagons_ which bears white flowers. It is of garden origin, and is not found in the wild state.
Then there is the double _Martagon_, about the stupidest flower which owns the name of lily. It is extraordinary the rage people have for double flowers. It is very rarely that a double flower has half the beauty of the single variety. In the rose, the chrysanthemum, the aster and other composite flowers, the double varieties are indeed vastly superior to the single flowers. But to us all the double bulbous plants are incomparably inferior to the single ones. In the lilies, the double varieties are scarcely worth growing.
_Lilium Martagon_ and its varieties should be grown in masses or as a thick border. Beyond seeing that the plants are well watered, they give no trouble and should never be disturbed.
_Lilium Pomponium_, or, as it is sometimes called, _Lilium Pomponicum_, is another well-known lily from Central Europe. It resembles the last in many particulars, but the leaves are linear and scattered, and the blossoms are not nearly so numerous as are those of _L. Martagon_.
From three to ten flowers are produced on each stem. The flowers are nodding with the segments much recurved, and are about an inch across. In the type the colour is a dullish-red, but there are also orange and yellow varieties.