Lilium candidum

Madonna lilies (Lilium candidum )

The Madonna Lily ( Lilium candidum ) is a species of the genus of lilies ( Lilium) in the Candidum section named after her.

Description

Madonna Lilies are perennial, herbaceous plants, reach stature sizes between 50 and 130 centimeters. The unlike other lilies immediately seated below the surface onion is broadly oval, white and has a diameter of up to 9 centimeters, the scales are numerous and broad - ovate. The strong, smooth stem is tinged with purple, green towards the end and at the base 14 mm thick. The arranged spirally, numerous leaves are shiny and hairless, lanceolate, up to 8 inches long and upwards ovate and shorter becoming. In autumn the plants produce for the winter from a basal rosette of up to 22 centimeters long expectant, broad - lanceolate foliage leaves, while new roots.

The inflorescence is a cluster of two to twelve, rarely up to twenty highly fragrant, funnel - to cup-shaped flowers, the corolla tube is short and widened, the green flower stems are about 40 millimeters long. The bloom are linearly reversed - lanceolate, strongly recurved in the upper third, 55 to 65, rarely up to 80 mm long and 6 to 13, rarely up to 20 mm wide, their surfaces are smooth and without papillae. They are pure white, can the approach as the tips but be tinged with yellow- green. Bloom time is from May to June.

The white stamens are 45 to 50 (57 ) mm long, the kidney-shaped anthers 9-11 mm, the pollen is golden. The light green, club-shaped stylus is 35 to 50, rarely up to 60 mm long, the stigma divided into three parts, finely papillose and light green. The ovary is approximately cylindrical, furrowed and green. The seed germinates instant- epigeal.

Dissemination

Madonna Lilies are native to the eastern Mediterranean countries of Greece ( Macedonia ) to Israel ( Galilee ) and Syria and Crete. There they colonize summer extremely dry and hard clay soil from sea level to montane levels.

Only a few locations of the Easter Lily are considered original wild, the majority of occurrences are due to the long culture in the Mediterranean as a naturalized origin. Probably comes from the Easter Lily the forested regions of the eastern Mediterranean to Syria, which mark the few remaining wild populations in Macedonia, Israel and Lebanon, this area roughly. The extensive loss of original habitats has led to the shift to secondary locations such as maquis, or scrubland. Sporadically it occurs in addition to the whole Mediterranean area, to the Canary Islands.

Endangering

The great human interest in the plant has contributed to the spread of the plant, but was not cultivated for stocks in all respects an enormous threat.

Botanical history

The Easter Lily was described in 1753 by Linnaeus. The species name candidum means " bright white ".

Cultural History

Carl Maier field and Judith McRae called the Easter Lily as " [ ... ] the prototype of lilies at all. She was her beauty and uniqueness surrounded with mysticism, was remedies and religious symbol which has retained its force from the earliest historical times through the Middle Ages to the present time. "

Already in the middle of the second millennium BC, the Madonna lily was taken in Asia Minor in Culture, this would make it one of the oldest cultivated ornamental plants at all. Pictures of Madonna lilies are found for example on vases from Santorini ( 1500 BC ), probably it was used here as a cut flower. Assyrian reliefs from Nineveh show Madonna lilies. Mentioned in the Bible ( eg, Sg 2.1 EU) can not assign a particular type, but would come because of the distribution area, only the Easter Lily in question.

The Easter Lily was later mentioned by Virgil and Ovid.

In Christianity, the lily was to the Middle Ages as connotes pagan, and only then was the detour of the biblical Susanna (from Hebrew Shushan " lily " ), which is considered the forerunner of Mary, the Madonna Lily because of their brilliant white color as a symbol of purity in the Christian language of form and so got its name. As a concession to the innocence of the Madonna Lily, however, was usually depicted without punches and stamens. It is especially common to see paintings that have the proclamation on the subject. In art, the Archangel Gabriel is often depicted as a female angel, then ( if the presentation has feminine traits ) often with a white lily in his hand; this is a symbol of Mary's virginity is ( Madonna lily), alluding to the announcement of the birth of Jesus according to Luke 1:26 ff

Literature and sources

• Peter H. Davis ( eds.): Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Vol 8, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 1984, ISBN 0-85224-494-0, pp. 281-282.
• Carl field Maier, Judith McRae: The new lilies. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1982, ISBN 3-8001-6121-4.
• Aaron Horovitz, Avinoam Danin: Relative of ornamental plants in the flora of Israel (PDF file, 1.43 MB). In: Israel Journal of Botany, Vol 32 (1983 ), pp. 75-95.
• Hans Simon, Leo Jelitto, Wilhelm Schacht: The Field - Jewelry perennials, Vol 2 Ulmer, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-8001-6378-0, p 567
• Mark Wood: Lily Species - Notes and Images. CD -ROM, as amended on 13 July 2006.