There is a purple[1926] lily, too, which sometimes has a double stem; it differs only from the other lilies in having a more fleshy root and a bulb of larger size, but undivided:[1927] the name given to it is “narcissus.”[1928] A second variety of this lily has a white flower, with a purple corolla. There is also this difference between the ordinary lily and the narcissus, that in the latter the leaves spring from the root of the plant. The finest are those which grow on the mountains of Lycia. A third variety is similar to the others in every respect, except that the corolla of the plant is green. They are all of them late[1929] flowers: indeed, they only bloom after the setting of Arcturus,[1930] and at the time of the autumnal equinox. CHAP. 13.—HOW SEED IS STAINED TO PRODUCE TINTED FLOWERS. There has been invented[1931] also a method of tinting the lily, thanks to the taste of mankind for monstrous productions. The dried stalks[1932] of the lily are tied together in the month of July, and hung up in the smoke: then, in the following March, when the small knots[1933] are beginning to disclose themselves, the stalks are left to steep in the lees of black or Greek wine, in order that they may contract its colour, and are then planted out in small trenches, some semi-sextarii of wine-lees being poured around them. By this method purple lilies are obtained, it being a very remarkable thing that we should be able to dye a plant to such a degree as to make it produce a coloured flower. CHAP. 14. (6.)—HOW THE SEVERAL VARIETIES OF THE VIOLET ARE RESPECTIVELY PRODUCED, GROWN, AND CULTIVATED. THE THREE DIFFERENT COLOURS OF THE VIOLET. THE FIVE VARIETIES OF THE YELLOW VIOLET. Next after the roses and the lilies, the violet is held in the highest esteem: of this there are several varieties, the purple,[1934] the yellow, and the white, all of them reproduced from plants, like the cabbage. The purple violet, which springs up spontaneously in sunny spots, with a thin, meagre soil, has larger petals than the others, springing immediately from the root, which is of a fleshy substance. This violet has a name, too, distinct from the other wild kinds, being called “ion,”[1935] and from it the ianthine[1936] cloth takes its name. Among the cultivated kinds, the yellow[1937] violet is held in the greatest esteem. The Tusculan violet, and that known as the “marine”[1938] violet, have petals somewhat broader than the others, but not so odoriferous; the Calatian[1939] violet, too, which has a smaller leaf, is entirely destitute of smell. This last is a present to us from the autumn, the others from the spring. CHAP. 15.—THE CALTHA. THE SCOPA REGIA.