The Lilies of Eastern Asia: a Monograph

Abstract

IT is not often that a writer on plants has the advantage of having had experience of seeing them in their native habitats, of cultivating them, and of studying them from herbarium material. Mr. Wilson is fortunate in having combined these, and shows in his introduction what good use he has made of his opportunities, so as to arrive at an estimate of the value of the various characters for taxonomic purposes. He has made three journeys through those parts of eastern Asia which may be regarded as the headquarters of lilies, and has also studied the material preserved in the chief herbaria of the world. The result has been the production of a volume containing detailed descriptions of the species and varieties, references to literature and synonymy, indication of habitat and notes on their cultivation, together with seventeen plates, of which several are reproductions of photographs taken by the author, of the plants in their native habitats. The book will be of great assistance to students of lilies, and gives references to the scattered literature which has accumulated since the publication in 1880 of Elwes' “Monograph of the Genus Lilium.” The Lilies of Eastern Asia: a Monograph. Ernest H. Wilson By. Pp. xiv + 110 + 17 plates. (London: Dulau and Co., Ltd., 1925.) 25s. net.