The word lily may trace back to an ancient Egyptian word for flower
Lilium comes from the Greek leirion, borrowed through Coptic and Demotic from an Egyptian word simply meaning flower. Plenty of plants carry the name without earning it, from water lilies to daylilies. The 119 true lilies are bulb plants of the Northern Hemisphere, prized by gardeners and dangerously toxic to cats.
True lilies grow from scaly bulbs that lack a papery outer coat. Many species also sprout roots from the stem above the bulb each year, and some have roots that contract to drag the bulb lower. That is why gardeners are told it is safer to plant too shallow than too deep; the usual guide is a depth about two and a half times the bulb's height, though the Madonna lily goes right at the surface. Plants stand 30 to 180 centimetres tall and bloom in late spring or summer.
Each flower has six free tepals, which may flare into a funnel or curl sharply back into the shape known as a Turk's cap. Colours run from white through yellow, orange and pink to red and purple, often marked with spots or brush strokes, and a nectary sits at the base of every tepal. Most cool-climate species go dormant in winter, but a few from hot-summer regions, such as the Easter lily, rest in summer instead and need a cold spell before their stems lengthen.
Wild lilies range across Europe and Asia to Japan and the Philippines, and in North America from southern Canada through much of the United States, mostly in woodland or grassland on lime-free soils. Some tropical Asian species even grow on other plants. In North America, soaring deer numbers, partly the result of removing large predators, have cut wild populations; fences up to eight feet high may be needed to protect a garden. The name lily also causes confusion in scripture: the lily among thorns in the Song of Solomon may actually be honeysuckle.
Breeders have created many hybrid groups. Asiatic hybrids tend to have upright, mostly unscented blooms, trumpet lilies are strongly fragrant, especially at night, and Oriental hybrids draw on Japanese species. The Easter lily is forced into bloom out of season for the holiday market. The regal lily and the Turk's cap martagon both hold the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Source: Lilium
