_Flowers_--Yellow to orange-red, of a deeper shade within, and speckled
with dark, reddish-brown dots. One or several (rarely many) nodding on
long peduncles from the summit. Perianth bell-shaped, of 6 spreading
segments 2 to 3 in. long, their tips curved backward to the middle; 6
stamens, with reddish-brown linear anthers; 1 pistil, club-shaped; the
stigma 3-lobed. _Stem_: 2 to 5 ft. tall, leafy, from a bulbous rootstock
composed of numerous fleshy white scales. _Leaves_: Lance-shaped to
oblong; usually in whorls of fours to tens, or some alternate. _Fruit_:
An erect, oblong, 3-celled capsule, the flat, horizontal seeds packed in
2 rows in each cavity.

_Preferred Habitat_--Swamps, low meadows, moist fields.

_Flowering Season_--June-July.

_Distribution_--Nova Scotia to Georgia, westward beyond the Mississippi.

Not our gorgeous lilies that brighten the low-lying meadows in early
summer with pendent, swaying bells; possibly not a true lily at all was
chosen to illustrate the truth which those who listened to the Sermon on
the Mount, and we, equally anxious, foolishly overburdened folk of
to-day, so little comprehend.

"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither
do they spin:

"And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not
arrayed like one of these."