Lilium longiflorum

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Ordo: Liliales

Familia: Liliaceae
Subfamilia: Lilioideae
Genus: Lilium
Sectio: L. sect. Leucolirion
Species: Lilium longiflorum
Varietates: L. l. var. longiflorum – L. l. var. scabrum
Name

Lilium longiflorum Thunb., 1794.
Homonyms

Lilium longiflorum Steud. (1841) = Lilium longiflorum var. longiflorum
Lilium longiflorum Wall. (1826) = Lilium wallichianum var. wallichianum

Hybrids

Lilium × formolongi K.Wada

Synonyms

Homotypic
Lilium longiflorum f. normale Voss, Vilm. Blumengärtn. ed. 3, 1: 1089 (1895), nom. illeg.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Asia-Temperate
Regional: Eastern Asia
Japan, Nansei-shoto, Philippines, Taiwan

Introduced into:

Alabama, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Florida, Korea, Mexico Central, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, Ogasawara-shoto, Utah, Vietnam

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Thunberg, C.P. 1794. Trans. Linn. Soc. London 2: 333.

Additional references

Chang, C.S., Kim, H. & Chang, K.S. 2014. Provisional checklist of vascular plants for the Korea peninsula flora (KPF). 563 p. Seoul: T.B. Lee Herbarium. PDF Reference page.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2022. Lilium longiflorum in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2022 July 31. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2022. Lilium longiflorum. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2022. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published online. Accessed: 2022 July 31. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2022. Lilium longiflorum. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 31 July 2022.
International Plant Names Index. 2022. Lilium longiflorum. Published online. Accessed: July 31 2022.
Vernacular names [1] and [2]
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Lilium longiflorum Thunb. in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 2014-06-18.
Lilium longiflorum Thunb. – Taxon details on Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Lilium longiflorum – Taxon details on National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).
EOL: Lilium longiflorum

Vernacular names
English: Easter Lily
日本語: テッポウユリ
svenska: Trumpetlilja

Lilium longiflorum (Japanese: テッポウユリ, Teppōyuri), often called the Easter lily, is a plant endemic to both Taiwan and Ryukyu Islands (Japan). Lilium formosanum, a closely related species from Taiwan, has been treated as a variety of Easter lily in the past. It is a stem rooting lily, growing up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) high. It bears a number of trumpet shaped, white, fragrant, and outward facing flowers.

Features

Plants tend to grow from about 50 cm (20 in) to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) tall. They have long oval leaves and the vein enters the horizontal direction. From April to June, the plant's flowering season, it produces pure white flowers on top of the stem. The stem has a cylindrical shape, with a diameter of about 5 cm (2.0 in).
Cultivation

A variety of it, L. longiflorum var. eximium, native to the Ryukyu Islands, is taller and more vigorous. It is extensively cultivated for cut flowers. It has irregular blooming periods in nature, and this is exploited in cultivation, allowing it to be forced for flowering at particular periods, such as Easter. However, it can be induced to flower over a much wider period. This variety is sometimes called the Bermuda lily because it has been much cultivated in Bermuda.
Lilium longiflorum 'Pink-Heaven'
Use in Christian symbolism

Lilium longiflorum is known as the Easter lily because in Christianity, it is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ, which is celebrated during Eastertide.[1][2] The "lily has always been highly regarded in the Church", as Jesus Himself referenced the flower, saying "Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" (Luke 12:27).[3] Moreover, according to pious legend, "after Jesus' death and resurrection, some of these beautiful flowers were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus went to pray the night before His crucifixion. Legend has it that these flowers sprung up where drops of Jesus' sweat fell as he prayed".[4][5] In many Christian churches, the chancel is adorned with Easter lilies throughout the Paschal season.[6][7] A poem of the early 1900s titled Easter Lilies by Mrs. S.R. Allen, delineates this custom:

Somewhere while the Easter lilies
Swing their perfumed censers white,
Softened rays of sunlight falling
In lines aslant, and warm, and bright,
Shall gild the altar, nave and chancel;
Rest with tender roseate ray
On the font, enwreathed with lilies
For baptismal rites today.
Another pilgrim on the journey
From the cradle to the tomb,
Shall receive a name and blessing
While the Easter lilies bloom.
— Mrs. S.R. Allen (Esther Saville Allen)[8]

History

In 1903, the USDA's Agricultural Research Services (ARS) started to distribute disease-free plant materials and seeds.

In Bermuda, from the 1890s to the early 1900s, there was from over some 200 fields a thriving export trade of lily bulbs by sea to New York. A disease then started affecting the lilies: a virus was identified by Lawrence Ogilvie, the Bermuda Government's first plant pathologist 1923 to 1928.

In 1924 Lawrence Ogilvie (age 25) saved the industry by identifying the problem to be not aphid damage as previously thought, and instituting controls in the fields and packing houses. There was a marked improvement in exporting 23 cases of lily bulbs in 1918 to 6043 cases in 1927 from the then 204 lily fields.[9] With the disease eliminated by him, he saved the economy of Bermuda (lilies and early vegetables sent by ship to New York were then economically much more important for Bermuda than hotels and financial services now).

Lawrence Ogilvie was established by his skills as a successful young scientist, still in his 20s, when he had a 3-inch column describing his work published in 1927 in the world's premier scientific-journal Nature.[10]

In 1929, USDA's Agricultural Research Services started a breeding program, and released one of the first dwarf cultivars for potted-plant production.[11] Prior to USDA's effort, lily bulbs were mostly imported from Japan until the 1940s. The supply of bulbs was suddenly cut off after the attack on Pearl Harbor and Easter lilies became extremely valuable in the United States.

Currently, nearly all Easter lily bulbs used in North America are grown on coastal bottom lands in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon, particularly in the town of Smith River, California.
Chemistry

The Easter lily is a rich source of steroidal glycosides.[12] It also contains bitter principles such as 3,6′-diferuloylsucrose.[13]
Toxicity

L. longiflorum is toxic to cats.[14][15][16] The true mechanism of toxicity is undetermined, but it involves damage to the renal tubular epithelium (composing the substance of the kidney and secreting, collecting, and conducting urine), which can cause acute kidney injury. Veterinary help should be sought, as a matter of urgency, for any cat that is suspected of eating any part of the lily – including licking pollen that may have brushed onto its coat.[17]
See also

List of plants known as lily

References

Collins, Cynthia (19 April 2014). "Easter Lily Tradition and History". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 April 2014. "The Easter Lily is symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Churches of all denominations, large and small, are filled with floral arrangements of these white flowers with their trumpet-like shape on Easter morning."
Schell, Stanley (1916). Easter Celebrations. Werner & Company. pp. 84. "We associate the lily with Easter, as pre-eminently the symbol of the Resurrection."
Soares, Theodore Gerald (1907). The Week of Our Lord's Passion. Hope Publishing Company. p. 210. Retrieved 20 April 2014. "The lily has always been highly regarding in the Church. Jesus said "Consider the lilies." The white lily is the symbol of purity. There is a peculiar fitness in the choice of this flower as an Easter emblem. Its bulb is hidden in the earth, and waits the coming of the Easter season to spring forth and blossom. Beautiful in itself it is still more beautiful in its sacred significance."
Hafer, Todd (2006). Easter A to Z. Hallmark Cards, Incorporated. p. 17. ISBN 9781595301079. Retrieved 20 April 2014. "Easter lilies are, perhaps, the most famous holiday flowers of all time. Sometime after Jesus' death and resurrection, some of these beautiful flowers were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus went to pray the night before His crucifixion. Legend has it that these flowers sprung up where drops of Jesus' sweat fell as he prayed and became very sad about what was happening to Him."
Swenson, Allan A. (2002). Flowers of the Bible: And How to Grow Them. Kensington Publishing Corporation. p. 182. ISBN 9780806523149. Retrieved 20 April 2014. "Christian tradition also says that lilies were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ's agony."
Luther League Review: 1936-1937. Luther League of America. 1936. "There were Easter lilies everywhere, on the platform in Sunday School, and the church was full of them, around the organ, along the chancel rail, inside the chancel, the whole front of the church seemed full of them."
Franklin, Estelle Eva (1906). Home Science Magazine. Lore of the Lily: Beautiful Traditions That are Associated With the Easter Flower-Its Universality. Home Science Publishing Company. p. 550. "The Easter lily, the emblem of the Christian church for centuries, is probably more largely used for decoration of altar and shrine throughout the civilized world, in the festival of the Resurrection, than all other flowers combined."
Ludwig, O. C.; S.R. Allen (1906). Pictures and Poems of Arkansas. Easter Lilies. Sketch Book Publishing Co. p. 103. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
October 1928 Monthly Bulletin of the Bermuda Department of Agriculture and Fisheries article by Lawrence Ogilvie
Ogilvie, Lawrence (April 1927). "An Important Virus Disease of Lilium longiflorum and its Varieties". Nature. 119 (2997): 528. doi:10.1038/119528b0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 8937999.
"A Brief History of Easter Lilies and the Role of the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center" (PDF). USDA-ARS.
Munafo, JP; Gianfagna, TJ (2011). "Quantitative analysis of steroidal glycosides in different organs of Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb.) by LC-MS/MS". J Agric Food Chem. 59 (3): 995–1004. doi:10.1021/jf1036454. PMID 21235207.
Shoyama, Yukihiro; Hatano, Koji; Nishioka, Itsuo; Yamagishi, Takashi (1987). "Phenolic glycosides from Lilium longiflorum". Phytochemistry. 26 (11): 2965. doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(00)84572-0.
Langston CE (January 2002). "Acute renal failure caused by lily ingestion in six cats". J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 220 (1): 49–52, 36. doi:10.2460/javma.2002.220.49. PMID 12680447.
Hall J (1992). "Nephrotoxicity of Easter Lily (Lilium longiflorum) when ingested by the cat". Proc Annu Meet Am Vet Int Med. 6: 121.
Volmer P (April 1999). "Easter lily toxicosis in cats" (PDF). Vet Med: 331.[permanent dead link]

"Lily poisoning in cats – Vet Help Direct Blog". 2 May 2010.

Further reading
Vidali, Luis; Hepler, Peter K. (1997). "Characterization and localization of profilin in pollen grains and tubes of Lilium longiflorum". Cell Motility and the Cytoskeleton. 36 (4): 323–338. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0169(1997)36:4<323::AID-CM3>3.0.CO;2-6. ISSN 0886-1544. PMID 9096955.
Holm, Preben Bach (1977). "Three-dimensional reconstruction of chromosome pairing during the zygotene stage of meiosis in Lilium longiflorum (thunb.)". Carlsberg Research Communications. 42 (2): 103–151. doi:10.1007/BF02906489. ISSN 0105-1938.
Reiss, Hans-Dieter; Herth, Werner (1979). "Calcium ionophore A 23187 affects localized wall secretion in the tip region of pollen tubes of Lilium longiflorum". Planta. 145 (3): 225–232. doi:10.1007/BF00454445. ISSN 0032-0935. PMID 24317727. S2CID 24097777.