Lilium candidum, the Madonna lily or white lily, is a plant in the true lily family. It is native to the Balkans and Middle East, and naturalized in other parts of Europe, including France, Italy, and Ukraine, and in North Africa, the Canary Islands, Mexico, and other regions. It has been cultivated since antiquity, for at least 3,000 years, and has great symbolic value since then for many cultures. It is susceptible to several virus diseases common to lilies, and especially to Botrytis fungus. One technique to avoid problems with viruses is to grow plants from seed instead of bulblets.
Description
It forms bulbs at ground level, and, unlike other lilies, grows a basal rosette of leaves during winter, which die the following summer. A leafy floral stem, which generally grows 1.2 metres (3 ft 11 in) tall, but exceptionally 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) tall, emerges in late spring and bears several sweetly and very fragrant flowers in summer. The flowers are pure white and tinted yellow in their throats.
In culture
Madonna lilies are depicted commonly in ancient Minoan frescoes, most famously in Prince of the Lilies in the palace of Knossos, but also in the "House of the Lilies" in Amnisos, while lilies coloured red are depicted on a shrine in a Xesté 3 fresco and the "Spring Fresco" in Akrotiri. The reasoning behind red lilies is unknown.
Some translations of the Bible identify the Hebrew word Shoshannah as "lily" in the Song of Songs: "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." (Song of Songs, 2:2 (KJV)) Customarily it is translated as "rose". For example, Abraham ibn Ezra described it as a white flower, which has a good fragrance, and has a six petaled flower and six stamens. But its identity is uncertain, because it typically grows in montane places and not in valleys as the phrase "the lily of the valleys" would have it.
The Bible describes King Solomon's Temple as adorned with designs of Madonna lilies on the columns, and on...
