Lily

In the Christian faith this flower is the symbol of pure and virginal love. There a lot of lily varieties, one of the most popular are the Oriental lilies, Tiger Lily and Easter lily. A part of the Liliaceae family, lilies are odorous, bulbous, herbaceous perennials. Approximately half of the lily species has their origin in continental Asia, the other half originate from Europe, North America and Japan.

The ancient peoples believed that lilies were the tokens of fertility and a pure life. Their flowers were offered to gods to appease them. The flower has been cultivated for over three thousand years. Feng Shui believers consider the lily to be an emblem of summer and prosperity; in China lily stands for "Forever in love".


The plant may be divided into four major categories. They are longiflorum, Asiatic, Oriental and longiflorum x Asiatic. Longiflorums is distinguished by sweet scent and big, funnel-shaped white blossoms. Asiatic lily is distinguished by smaller blooms and is less odorous in a vast range of shades and colors. In comparison with Asiatic species Oriental lily’s flower is larger and it has stronger odor. These blooms may be met in fewer shades and colors. As for the longiflorum x Asiatic category, it is available in apricot shades having just a light smell.


The majority of species are available at any season of the year in white, cream, yellow, red, pink, orange shades; the be-colored blooms are grown as well. The cut flower’s life lasting is about one or two weeks. It is very important to know that the flower is very sensitive to ethylene.

Lilium distichum

Tiger Lily - Lilium columbianum

Humboldt's lily - Lilium humboldtii

Washington Lily or Shasta Lily - Lilium washingtonianum

By David barts -  under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.