Smile of Earth- 12

Lilies

Tulip

The Lily family, Liliaceae, originally consisted of about 4000 plus known species. Latest classification has organized these into more compact, related families.

Lilies are showy monocot flowers. The plants are herbaceous perennials, propagating from underground bulbs. The flowers have six, colored tepals (not petals) in two whorls of three each. Though lilies produce seeds, they are not viable.

Lilies are widely distributed, mostly in warm temperate and tropical regions. They are valuable ornamental plants and are traded as cut flowers.
The oil extracted from lilies has healing and softening properties for sensitive skin. Especially, when the lily fragrance oil is mixed with Calendula oil, it works wonderfully.

Lily flowers stand for love, purity, femininity, unity and transience.
We will look at a few flowers that bear the name Lily; may not be ‘True Lilies’ technically, according to new classification.

Daylily

Amaryllis lily

Rain lily