Kathy Case

The Lily Flower



Posted: Tuesday, July 29, 2008

by
Case Exchange Co., Inc.

The genus Lilium is the true lily and consists of about 110 species. They are in the Liliaceae family. Today many ornamental lilies are hybrids. Lilies are used for a few purposes, including flowerbeds, herbs, and cut flowers.

True lilies are plants grown from flower bulbs that are a loose scaly type. Lilies have a leafy stem that can reach three or four feet tall. The flower has six petals and is found in a variety of colors. Many have spots on their petals.

Some lilies are forced to bloom at certain times of the year for marketing. The Lilium longiflorum, a native of Japan, or Easter lily is probably the most popular. The Madonna, originally from the Balkans and West Asia, is widely marketed for cut flowers. Longiflorum hybrids are also commonly used for cut flowers.

The Lilium bulb is a starchy herb that is widely used in China. Three types in particular are grown as a health food to reduce internal heat. The three types are Lilium lancifolium, Lilium pumilum, and Lilium brownii. They can be stir-fried and its taste is similar to potatoes. The bulbs can also be used to thicken soup when graded. Please take note, " Although they are believed to be safe for humans to eat, there are reports of nephrotoxicosis (kidney failure) in cats which have eaten some species of Lilium and Hemerocallis." Also some other plants with lily in the common name are also poisonous when consumed.

- by Kathy Case

http://www.QualityFlowerBulbs.com/page/TheLilyFlower

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilium

Kathy lives with her husband Robert and two cats in Batesville, AR. They have been gardening with perennials and flower bulbs since 1999. For more information on flower bulbs please visit http://www.qualityflowerbulbs.com. Kathy and Robert also have a nice photo gallery of some of the beautiful flowers they grow in their gardens.

This Article has been viewed 98 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by Susan Thom
 3 years 180 days ago.
174 fans.
hi kathy,
 
this was a well written, interesting article.
 
i hope you contnue writing,
 
best regards,
 
sue thom
» left by Kathy Case 3 years 180 days ago.
8 fans. Follow Kathy Case on twitter!
Hi Sue,
 
Thank you very much for your comment. I just started submitting articles last week and I was wondering what others would think about them. After reading your message it made me feel good about writing them.
 
 
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.