TUBEROSE is a garden plant (Polianthes tuberosa) of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). It is native to Mexico but has never been found growing wild. The plant grows to about three feet tall. The blossoms are funnel-shaped and waxy white in color. They are noted for their extremely sweet fragrance. The leaves are long and slender. The tuberose was so named because it forms a thick, bulb-like underground stem called a tuber. New plants develop from these tubers. They are planted in spring when all danger of frost has passed. The new plants bloom in late summer. In the fall they are dug up and stored in a cool, dry place. The most popular varieties of tuberoses are the Mexican Single, Dwarf, and Pearl Excelsior. The tuberose is named for its tube-shaped rootstock, from which slender stems grow. Tuberose blossoms have a heavy, sweet fragrance. The flowers are used in making perfumes. Also they are raised for use in perfumes and toilet preparations in central Europe, southern Africa, and in North Carolina and New Jersey. In addition, it is grown in Hawaii for use in making wreaths of flowers strung together. The tuberose has a heavy, almost sickening, odor. Its slender stem springs from a tube like rootstock, and often grows 3 feet (91 centimeters) high. The stem of the tuberose bears waxy-white blossoms and has eight sword-shaped leaves. The tuberose is named for the shape of its rootstock, not for its resemblance to a tube shaped rose. The tuberose is not a rose. Scientific classification: The tuberose belongs to the agave family, Agavaceae. It is Polianthes tuberosa.

　　TULIP (tu’lip) is any of the flowering plants that make up the genus Tulipa. This genus belongs to the lily family (Liliaceae). There are about 160 species of tulips. They grow wild from Italy and Austria eastward across Asia to Japan. Common garden tulips are thought to have developed from only a few of these wild species. Plant breeders have produced thousands of garden varieties in a wide range of colors, sizes, and shapes.

Tulip blossoms are cup-shaped and grow pointing upward. Upside down they look something like a turban—in fact the word “tulip” comes from the Turkish word for turban. The plants grow from bulbs. They do not fare well in hot climates since a cool winter period is necessary to mature the bulbs. Well-fertilized soil is best for tulips. In Europe, the United States, and Canada the bulbs are planted in the fall. The bulb contains a stem and the beginnings of the next year’s flower and leaves, formed while the plant was in bloom. (See Bulb)

There are three main classes of tulips: early flowering, which usually have short stems; midseason, long stemmed with larger blossoms; and late flowering, which have long stems and the widest range of colors. Tulips came to Europe in about 1554 from Turkey, where they were being grown before 1500. They reached the Netherlands a few years later and became extremely popular there. The Dutch became so skillful in raising them that they are still the leading growers of tulip bulbs shipping large quantities all over the world. At one time tulips were so popular in the Netherlands that people paid huge prices for new varieties. During this “tulipomania,” tulip bulbs were the object of much financial speculation.

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　　TRILLIUM is any of several species of flowering plants of the lily family, Liliaceae.

The plant’s name comes from the Latin word for three. The blossoms of trilliums have three petals, three sepals’ six stamens, a three-celled ovary, and a cluster of thee leaves. A solitary flower blooms above the cluster of leaves. Trilliums are woodland plants native to North America and Asia. They grow in damp, shaded areas. About 30 different species are known. Some bloom in early spring before the robins come. Thus the name wake-robin is given to them.

One of the species of trillium with large flowers is the great white trillium or trinity lily. Its blossoms have broad petals, each two or three inches long, and a pleasant scent. Days after blooming, the flowers change from white to pink. The so called purple trillium (T. erectum) really has dark red petals. The blossom is beautiful but has a most unpleasant odor.

Perhaps the prettiest of the trilliums is the painted trillium (T. undulatum), also called painted wake-robin or smiling wake-robin. Its narrow, pointed petals are white marked with deep pink or maroon. The nodding miliums T. cernuum) white flowers droop and are almost hidden by the leaves.

When trilliums are picked, they wilt quickly, and the plant forms no seed for the next year.

It is best, therefore, to let the flowers stay in their natural woodland home.

In 1927 the trillium was made the official flower of Ontario, Canada.

　　THISTLE is a term applied to many kinds of plants which have noticeably prickly or spiny leaves or stems. Many of them are troublesome weeds. Others, such as the globe and star thistles, are grown as ornamentals. Star thistles are close relatives of the cornflowers, or bachelor’s-buttons. The Russian thistle, or turn-blueweed, belongs to the same family as the beet. It was introduced into the United States from Russia in flaxseed. When mature, tumbleweeds break off at the surface of the soil. They may be blown long distances by the wind, thus scattering their seeds. The weed is especially troublesome in the western United States.

The most common thistles, as well as the globe and star thistles, belong to a special group of the very large family Compositae. Their small tubular flowers, which range in color from purple to white or yellow, are borne in prickly heads. When all the flowers in a head have finished blooming they wither and their small dry, seed like fruits ripen. Each fruit develops long silky hairs. The fruit may then break from the head and be borne away by the wind. Thistles may be spread long distances in this manner. There are several very troublesome thistles in the United States. One of these is the large bull thistle common in pasture lands and fields in the eastern states. During its first year of growth it develops a large coarse rosette close to the ground. The second year the stem elongates, bears flowers, and matures seed. The whole plant then dies. Probably the most troublesome of all thistles is the lavender-flowered Canada thistle. Smaller than the bull thistle but more persistent as a weed, it lives many years instead of only two. It spreads by means of seeds and through its long underground stems or rootstocks. These stems are not reached or dug out readily by cultivation tools. They are easily broken, however, and each broken part left in the soil will form a complete new plant.

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