Now you observe, in this instructive page, that you have in the first place, nine names given you for one flower; and that among these nine names, you are not even at liberty to make your choice, because the united authority of Haller and Miller may be considered as an accurate balance to the single authority of Linnaeus; and you ought therefore for the present to remain, yourself, balanced between the sides. You may be farther embarrassed by finding that the Anthericum of Savoy is only described as growing in Switzerland. And farther still, by finding that Mr. Miller describes two varieties of it, which differ only in size, while you are left to conjecture whether the one here figured is the larger or smaller; and how great the difference is. Farther, If you wish to know anything of the habits of the plant, as well as its nine names, you are informed that it grows both at the bottoms of the mountains, and the tops; and that, with us, it flowers in May and June,--but you are not told when, in its native country. The four lines of the last clause but one, may indeed be useful to gardeners; but--although I know my good father and mother did the best they could for me in buying this beautiful book; and though the admirable plates of it did their work, and taught me much, I cannot wonder that neither my infantine nor boyish mind was irresistibly attracted by the text of which this page is one of the most favourable specimens; nor, in consequence, that my botanical studies were--when I had attained the age of fifty--no farther advanced than the reader will find them in the opening chapter of this book. {3} * * * * * [318] ANTHERICUM LILIASTRUM, SAVOY ANTHERICUM, or ST. BRUNO'S LILY. _Class and Order._ HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. _Generic Character._ _Cor._ 6-petala, patens. _Caps._ ovata. _Specific Character and Synonyms._ ANTHERICUM _Liliastrum_ foliis planis, scapo simplicissimo, corollis campanulatis, staminibus declinatis. _Linn. Syst. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 330._ _Ait. Kew. v. _I._ p. 449._ HEMEROCALLIS floribus patulis secundis. _Hall. Hist. n. 1230._ PHALANGIUM magno flore. _Bauh. Pin. 29._ PHALANGIUM Allobrogicum majus. _Clus. cur. app. alt._ PHALANGIUM Allobrogicum. The Savoye Spider-wort. _Park. Parad. p. 150. tab. 151. f. 1._ * * * * * Botanists are divided in their opinions respecting the genus of this plant; LINNAEUS considers it as an _Anthericum_, HALLER and MILLER make it an _Hemerocallis_. It is a native of Switzerland, where, HALLER informs us it grows abundantly in the Alpine meadows, and even on the summits of the mountains; with us it flowers in May and June.