S C I L L A bifolia.
Two-leaved Squill.
H E X A N jD R I A Monogynict•
Gen. Char. Cor. of fix petals, fpreading, deciduous.
Filaments of equal thicknefs throughout.
Spec. Char. Root folid. Flowers nearly eredl, without
bra&eae. Leaves lanceolate, generally two.
Syn. Scilla bifolia. Linn. Sp. P I. 443. Jacq. F I. Aufi.
V. 2. 1 1 . t. 1 1 7 .
Hyacinthus ftellatus Fuchfii. Ger. em. 106.
E are induced to prefent the Englifh botanift with a figure
of this plant, not merely becaufe it is what has been confounded,
even by Ray himfelf, with Scilla verna, but chiefly becaufe
it is a doubtful matter, after all, whether it be not likewife a native
of Britain. Our authority for faying fo is Buddie’s Herbarium,
prefcrved in the Britifh Mufeum, and always fuppofed
decifive in fuch cafes, as containing native fpecimens alone.
In that collection is to be feen an indubitable fpecimen of Scilla
bifolia, with the fynonym in Ray’s Synopfis, p. 372; but, unluckily,
without mention of any particular place of growth. It
is moreover marked Herb. Britt, tab. 67, f 5, which refers to
Petiver’s Englilh Herbal, where a figure of it is to be found,
rude indeed, like all thofe of Petiver, but fufficient to afcertain
the plant.
Scilla bi^plia grows on the continent in groves and thickets,
flowering in the fpring. The fpecimen here figured flowered
in a'garden, but from whence brought is not known.' The
leaves are fcarcely ever more than two in number •, the brac-
tese either altogether wanting, or fo minute as to be hardly perceptible.
Moll of the fpecies of this genus are characterized
radice folida (with a folid bulb), to diftinguifh them from Scilla
Lilio-hyacinthus, which has the fcaly bulb of a lily, a circum-
ftance which fome botanifts feem to have mifunderllood.