Flowers: Lilium

The genus Lilium are herbaceous flowering plants normally growing from bulbs. They comprise a genus of about 110 species in the lily family, Liliaceae. They are important as large showy flowering garden plants. They are important culturally and in literature in much of the world.
Some species are sometimes grown or harvested for the edible bulbs.

The species in this genus are the true lilies. Many other plants exist with "lily" in the common English name, some of which are quite unrelated to the true lilies.

Range

The range of lilies in the Old World extends across much of Europe, the north Mediterranean region, across most of Asia to Japan, south to the Nilgiri mountains in India, and south to the Philippines. In the New World they extend from southern Canada through much of the United States.

They are commonly adapted to either woodland habitats, often montane, or sometimes to grassland habitats. A few can survive in marshland and a single one is known to live as an epiphyte (L. arboricola). In general they prefer moderately acidic or lime-free soils.

Names

The botanic name Lilium is the Latin form and is a Linnaean name. The Latin name is derived from the Greek leirion, which is generally assumed to be the Madonna lily.

"Lilium" Is the name of the main theme song of the popular adult anime Elfen Lied. The song is well known for its sad tone and has often been used in AMVs to express the sadness of the character in that particular anime.

Propagation and growth

Liliums can be propagated in several ways;
by division of the bulbs,
by growing-on bulbils which are adventitious bulbs formed on the stem,
by scaling, for which whole scales are detached from the bulb and planted to form a new bulb,
by seed; seed germination patterns are variable and can be complex.