Pictures of lilies

Lilies of different kinds are commonly found all across the globe. Lilies come in different shapes, sizes and colors. Lilies are really excellent plants for beds and borders. Lilies are suitable for use in a shrub border, as accent plants, a formal or naturalized pool planting. Even some of the small species would fit perfectly in an alpine rock garden.

Whater Lily

Lily

Dating as far back as 1580 B.C., when images of lilies were discovered in a villa in Crete, these majestic flowers have long held a role in ancient mythology. Derived from the Greek word Уleiron,Ф (generally assumed to refer to the white Madonna lily), the lily was so revered by the Greeks that they believed it sprouted from the milk of Hera, the queen of the gods. Lilies are known to be the May birth flower, and the 30th wedding anniversary flower.

While white lilies symbolize chastity and virtue Ц and were the symbol of the Virgin MaryТs purity and her role of Queen of the Angels Ц as other varieties became popular, they brought with them additional meanings and symbolism as well. Peruvian lilies, or alstroemeria, represent friendship and devotion, white stargazer lilies express sympathy and pink stargazer lilies represent wealth and prosperity. Symbolizing humility and devotion, lilies of the valley are the 2nd wedding anniversary flower.

As the flowers most often associated with funerals, lilies symbolize that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death.

Water lily

Water Lily flowers are wonderfully showy and fragrant, lasting only a few days. Some open during the day and close at night, others the opposite. Most are pollinated by beetles.

The Fragrant Water Lily (Nymphae odorata) has a unique pollination strategy. On the first day that the flower blooms, its pollen is not yet released, and instead, a fluid fills the centre of the flower, covering the female parts.

Should an insect visit the flower, the design of the petals causes it to fall into the fluid. If the insect is covered in pollen, the pollen dissolves in the fluid and fertilises the flower. The next day, no fluid is produced, and pollen is released instead. The insect that falls into the fluid usually emerges unharmed, although a few unlucky ones may be trapped and drown.

A few days after the Water Lily flower is pollinated, the flower stem tightens in a spiralling spring to bring the flower head underwater. The fruit develops underwater into a spongy berry with many seeds that are enclosed in arils. When ripe, up to 2,000 seeds are released from each fruit. Young seeds float as they contain air pockets. They are then dispersed by water currents or by water birds that eat them. As they become waterlogged, they sink into the mud to germinate. The plant also spreads by sprouting from the creeping rhizomes.

The flat round leaves have a waxy water-repellent upper side. The underside, however, seems to cling to the water by surface tension. Some Water Lilies leaves are purple underneath, the pigments helping to concentrate the sunlight to maximise photosynthesis. The leaf stem is hollow and transports air from the surface to the underwater rhizomes which can grow to a massive size. Water Lilies grow best in calm freshwater.

Uses: The American Indians made flour out of dried roots by pounding them. The flour was then baked into pancakes. The young leaves and flower buds were eaten as vegetables, seeds eaten fried.

bittern in a patch of water liliesTraditional medicinal uses: American Indians used the plant to treat many ailments. Mashed green roots were used as poultice for swollen limbs; the roots for problems of the womb, digestive problems, a rinse for mouth sores; leaves and flowers as cooling compresses.

Role in the habitat: The Water Lily's leaves shade the water keeping it cool and thus allowing for more dissolved oxygen. The plant also provides hiding places for small aquatic creatures, which in turn attract predators such as Bitterns (see right). But in places where it has been introduced, the Water Lily can become a weed and blocking out sunlight and oxygen from the water and displacing local aquatic plants.