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LILY

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 688 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LILY , Lilium, the typical genus of the botanical See also:

order See also:Liliaceae, embracing nearly eighty See also:species, all confined to the See also:northern hemisphere, and widely distributed throughout the See also:north temperate See also:zone. The earliest in cultivation were described in 1597 by See also:Gerard (Herball, p. 146), who figures eight kinds of true lilies, which include L. See also:album (L. candidum) and a variety, bizantinum, two umbellate forms of the type L. bulbiferum, named L. aureum and L. cruentum latifolium, and three with pendulous See also:flowers, apparently forms of the martagon lily. See also:Parkinson, in his Paradisus (1629), described five varieties of martagon, six of umbellate kinds—two See also:white ones, and L. pomponium, L. chalcedonicum, L. carniolicum and L. pyrenaicum —together with one See also:American, L. canadense, which had been introduced in 1629. For the See also:ancient and See also:medieval See also:history of the lily, see M. de Cannart d'Hamale's Monographie historique et litteraire See also:des lis (See also:Malines, 1870). Since that See also:period many new species have been added. The latest authorities for description and See also:classification of the genus are J. G. See also:Baker (" Revision of the Genera and Species of Tulipeae," Journ. of Linn. See also:Soc. xiv. p. 211, 1874), and J. H.

Elwes (Monograph of the Genus Lilium, r88o), who first tested all the species under cultivation, and has published every one beautifully figured by W. H. See also:

Fitch, and some hybrids. With respect to the See also:production of hybrids, the genus is remarkable for its See also:power of resisting the See also:influence of See also:foreign See also:pollen, for the seedlings of any species, when crossed, generally resemble that which bears them. A See also:good See also:account of the new species and See also:principal varieties discovered since 188o,with much See also:information on the cultivation of lilies and the diseases to which they are subject, will be found in the See also:report of the See also:Conference on Lilies, in the See also:Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 1901. The new species include a number discovered in central and western See also:China by Dr See also:Augustine See also:Henry and other collectors; also several from See also:Japan and See also:California. The structure of the See also:flower represents the See also:simple type of mono-cotyledons, consisting of two whorls of petals, of three See also:free parts each, six free stamens, and a consolidated See also:pistil of three carpels, ripening into a three-valved See also:capsule containing many winged seeds. In See also:form, the flower assumes three types: See also:trumpet-shaped, with a more or less elongated See also:tube, e.g. L. longiflorum and L. candidum; an open form with spreading perianth leaves, e.g. L. auratum; or assuming a pendulous See also:habit, with the tips strongly reflexed, e.g. the martagon type. All have scaly bulbs, which in three See also:west American species, as L. Humboldli, are remarkable for being somewhat intermediate between a bulb and a creeping rhizome.

L. bulbiferum and its See also:

allies produce aerial reproductive bulbils in the axils of the leaves. The bulbs of several species are eaten, such as of L. avenaceum in See also:Kamchatka, of L. Martagon by the See also:Cossacks, and of L. tigrinum, the " See also:tiger lily," in China and Japan. Medicinal uses were ascribed to the species, but none appear to have any marked properties in this respect. The white lily, L. candidum, the See also:Miami of the Greeks, was one of the commonest See also:garden flowers of antiquity, appearing in the poets from See also:Homer downwards See also:side by side with the See also:rose and the See also:violet. According to Hehn, See also:roses and lilies entered See also:Greece from the See also:east by way of See also:Phrygia, See also:Thrace and See also:Macedonia (Kulturpflanzen and Hausthiere, 3rd ed., P. 217). The word Xdpwv itself, from which lilium is. derived by assimilation of consonants, appears to be Eranian (Ibid. p. 527), and according to ancient etymologists (See also:Lagarde, Ges. Abh. p. 227) the See also:town of See also:Susa was connected with the See also:Persian name of the lily si2san (Gr. vo ktov, Heb. shOshan). Mythologically the white lily, See also:Rosa Junonis, was fabled to have sprung from the See also:milk of See also:Hera.

As the plant of purity it was contrasted with the rose of See also:

Aphrodite. The word Kptvov, on the other See also:hand, included red and See also:purple lilies, Plin. H.N. xxi. 5 (II, 12), the red lily being best known in See also:Syria and See also:Judaea (Phaselis). This perhaps is the " red lily of See also:Constantinople " of Gerard, L. chalcedonicum. The lily of the Old Testament (shoshan) may be conjectured to be a red lily from the simile in Cant. v. 13, unless the allusion is to the fragrance rather than the See also:colour of the lips, in which See also:case the white lily must be thought of. The " lilies of the See also:field," Matt. vi. 28, are Kptva, and the comparison of their beauty with royal See also:robes suggests their See also:identification with the red Syrian lily of See also:Pliny. Lilies, however, are not a conspicuous feature in the See also:flora of See also:Palestine, and the red See also:anemone (Anemone coronaria), with which all the See also:hill-sides of See also:Galilee are dotted in the See also:spring, is perhaps more likely to have suggested the figure. For the lily in the See also:pharmacopoeia of the ancients see See also:Adams's See also:Paul. See also:Aegineta, iii.

196. It was used in unguents and against the bites of See also:

snakes, &c. In the See also:middle ages the flower continued to be See also:common and was taken as the See also:symbol of heavenly purity. The three See also:golden lilies of See also:France are said to have been originally three See also:lance-heads. Lily of the valley, Convallaria majalis, belongs to a different tribe (Asparagoideae) of the same order. It grows See also:wild in See also:woods in some parts of See also:England, and in See also:Europe, northern See also:Asia and the See also:Alleghany Mountains of North See also:America. The leaves and flower-scapes spring from an underground creeping See also:stem. The small pendulous See also:bell-shaped flowers contain no See also:honey but are visited by bees for the pollen. The word " lily " is loosely used in connexion with many See also:plants which are not really liliums at all, but belong to genera which are Madonna or White Lily (Lilium candidum). About } nat. See also:size. quite distinct botanically. Thus, the See also:Lent lily is See also:Narcissus Pseudo-narcissus; the See also:African lily is Agapanthus umbellatus; the See also:Belladonna lily is See also:Amaryllis Belladonna (q.v.); the Jacobaea lily is Sprekelia formosissima; the Mariposa lily is Calochortus; the lily of the Incas is Alstroemeria pelegrina; St See also:Bernard's lily is Anthericum Liliago; St See also:Bruno's lily is Anthericum (or Paradisia') Liliastrum; the See also:water lily is Nymphaea See also:elba; the Arum lily is See also:Richardia africana; and there are many others.

The true lilies are so numerous and varied that no See also:

general cultural instructions will be alike suitable to all. Some species, as L. Martagon, candidum, chalcedonicum, Szovitzianum (or See also:colchicum), bulbiferum, croceum, Henryi, pomponium—the " Turk's cap lily," and others, will grow in almost any good garden See also:soil, and succeed admirably in See also:loam of a rather heavy See also:character, and dislike too much See also:peat. But a compost of peat, loam and See also:leaf-soil suits L. auratum, Brownii, concolor, elegans, giganteum, japonicum, longiflorum, monadelphum, pardalinum, speciosum, and the tiger lily (L. tigrinum) well, and a larger proportion of peat is indispensable for the beautiful American L. superbum and canadense. The margin of See also:rhododendron beds, where there are sheltered recesses amongst the plants, suits many of the more delicate species well, partial shade Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis). About i nat. size. and shelter of some See also:kind being essential. The bulbs should be planted from 6 to to in. (according to size) below the See also:surface, which should at once be mulched over with See also:half-decayed leaves or coconut fibre to keep out See also:frost. The See also:noble L. auratum, with its large white flowers, having a yellow See also:band and numerous red or purple spots, is a magnificent plant when grown to perfection; and so are the varieties called rubro-vittatum and cruentum, which have the central band See also:crimson instead of yellow; and the broad-petalled platyphyllum, and its almost pure white sub-variety called virginale. Of L. speciosum (well known to most gardeners as lancifolium), the true typical form and the red-spotted and white varieties are See also:grand plants for See also:late summer blooming in the conservatory. The tiger lily, L. tigrinum, and its varieties Fortunei, splendidum and flore-plena, are amongst the best species for the flower garden; L.

Thunbergianum and its many varieties being also good border flowers. The See also:

pretty L. Leichtlinii and L. colchicum (or Szovitzianum) with drooping yellow flowers and the See also:scarlet drooping-flowered L. tenuifolium make up, with those already mentioned, a See also:series of the finest See also:hardy flowers of the summer garden. The See also:Indian L. giganteum is perfectly distinct in character, having broad See also:heart-shaped leaves, and a noble stem 10 to 14 ft. high, bearing a dozen or more large deflexed, See also:funnel-shaped, white, purple-stained flowers; L. cordifolium (China and Japan) is similar in character, but dwarfer in habit. For pot culture, the soil should consist of three parts turfy loam to -one of leaf-See also:mould and thoroughly rotted manure, adding enough pure grit to keep the compost porous. If leaf-mould is not at hand, turfy peat may be substituted for it. The plants should be potted in See also:October. The pots should be plunged in a See also:cold See also:frame and protected from frost, and about May may be removed to a sheltered and See also:LIMA moderately shady See also:place out-doors to remain till they flower, wheq they may be removed to the greenhouse. This treatment suits the gorgeous L. auratum, the splendid varieties of L. speciosum (lancifolium) and also the chaste-flowering trumpet-tubed L. longiflorum and its varieties. Thousands of bulbs of such lilies as longiflorum and speciosum are now retarded in refrigerators and taken out in batches for greenhouse See also:work as required. Diseases.—Lilies are, under certain conditions favourable to the development of the disease, liable to the attacks of three parasitic See also:fungi. The most destructive is See also:Botrytis cinerea which forms See also:orange-See also:brown or See also:buff specks on the stems, pedicels, leaves and flower-buds, which increase in size and become covered with a delicate See also:grey mould, completely destroying or disfiguring the parts attacked.

The spores formed on the delicate grey mould are carried during the summer from one plant to another, thus spreading the disease, and also germinate in the soil where the fungus may remain passive during the See also:

winter producing a new See also:crop of spores next spring, or sometimes attacking the scales of the bulbs forming small See also:black hard bodies embedded in the flesh. For prevention, the surface soil covering bulbs should be removed every autumn and replaced by soil mixed with kainit; manure for mulching should also be mixed with kainit, which acts as a steriliser. If the fungus appears on the foliage spray with See also:potassium sulphide See also:solution (2 oz. in 3 gallons of water). Uromyces Erythronii, a See also:rust, sometimes causes consider-able injury to the foliage of species of Lilium and other bulbous plants, forming large discoloured blotches on the leaves. The diseased sterns should be removed and burned before the leaves fall; as the bulb is not attacked the plant will start growth next See also:season free from disease. Rhizopus necans is sometimes the cause of extensive destruction of bulbs. The fungus attacks injured roots and afterwards passes into the bulb which becomes brown and finally rots. The fungus hibernates in the soil and enters through broken or injured roots, hence care should be taken when removing the bulbs that the roots are injured as little as possible. An excellent packing material for dormant buds is coarsely crushed See also:wood-See also:charcoal to which has been added a sprinkling of flowers of See also:sulphur. This prevents infection from outside and also destroys any spores or fungus mycelium that may have been packed away along with the bulbs. When cultivated in greenhouses liliums are subject to attack from See also:aphides (See also:green See also:fly) in the See also:early stages of growth. These pests can be kept in check by syringing with See also:nicotine, soft-See also:soap and See also:quassia solutions, or by " vaporising " two or three evenings in See also:succession, afterwards syringing the plants with clear tepid water.

End of Article: LILY

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