There is no glory in star or blossom Till looked upon by a loving eye; There is no fragrance in April breezes Till breathed with joy as they wander by.
—William Cullen Bryant.
VI. MISCELLANEOUS
MUILLA.
Muilla maritima, Benth. Lily Family.
Root.—A small membranous-coated corm. Leaves.—Radical; linear; equaling the slender scape. Scapes.—Three to twelve inches high, bearing an umbel of small greenish-white flowers, subtended by several small lanceolate to linear bracts. Pedicels.—Five to fifteen; two to twelve lines long. Perianth.—Almost rotate; of six segments; two or three lines long. Stamens.—Six. Ovary.—Globose; three-celled. Hab.—The Coast, from Marin County to Monterey; also inland.
The generic name of this little plant is Allium reversed.
Though it has a coated bulb like the onion, it has none of its garlic flavor. It differs from the other umbellate-flowered genera of the Lily family in not having its flowers jointed upon their pedicels. It thus seems to be a link between the onion, on the one hand, and the beautiful Brodiæas and Bloomerias, on the other. It is not at all an attractive plant, though its blossoms are pleasantly fragrant.