Last year we had a small hill-side covered with these lilies, and the effect was delightful. Although we cut several the bed was always gay with blossoms. They flowered in the beginning of August, producing from two to five flowers each, of a pure rich white, not greenish like the flowers of _Harrisii_, very large and sweet scented. They were not injured by a spell of three days’ rain which occurred in the middle of their flowering-time.
_L. Takesima_ is a late flowering _Longiflorum_. It can readily be distinguished from the other varieties by the purple tint of its stem and flower buds. It is very free-flowering; one of our spikes contained six blossoms, all of which were matured.
Of all the varieties of _Longiflorum_ none other is to be compared with that known as “_Wilsoni_” or “_Eximium_.” This is a perfectly lovely plant. As we are writing there is a specimen of this lily on the table before us. It is in a pot and is the result of a single bulb. There are eight blossoms, not one of which is aught but perfect. The blossoms are very long and possess the scent of lilac.
Among the other varieties of _L. Longiflorum_ which we have grown there is one which, as far as we are aware, is unnamed. We bought ten bulbs of “_Lilium Longiflorum, New Variety_,” at an auction for half-a-crown. Most of the bulbs produced fair but ordinary results; but one which was grown in a pot was quite different from any variety that we know. This bulb sent up two spikes, each bearing two blossoms, but unfortunately one spike was spoilt by green fly. The other matured its two flowers. They were very long, almost as long as those of _L. Philippinense_, that is, about nine inches long. They were pure white at their open end, but greenish towards their attachment. The petals were much longer than the sepals, but not so strongly curved. Whether this is the “new variety,” or is a bulb of _L. Formosanum_ or _Philippinense_ out of place, we cannot tell.
One of the finest plants for the table that we know, both when in flower and previously, is the variety of _L. Longiflorum_ with white-margined leaves. In this plant the centres of the leaves are an opaque pale green, and the margins are pure white. The buds show a similar colouration. Unlike most plants with variegated foliage, this lily has very fine blossoms of a dead white colour, but with curious transparent edges. Each bulb usually produces two flowers.