Are All Lilies the Water Type?
The word "lily" carries both botanical and vernacular use. In botany, only plants in the genus Lilium are regarded as true lilies. There are many common names of flowers that have lily as part of the name, including waterlilies. Does this Spark an idea?
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Significance
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A true lily -- Lilium species In botanical classification, there is a lily family, Liliaceae, which comprises many different types of related plants. The genus Lilium is regarded as being the true lilies, with about 100 different species. Other plants not in the lily family are called lilies simply because their flowers may look lily-like.
Types
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Lily-of-the-Nile, while not a Lilium, is in the lily family. A sampling of plants in the genus Lilium include Easter lily, madonna lily, tiger lily, Asiatic lily, Turkscap lily, morning star lily and wood lily. Other members in the lily family, Liliaceae, are daylilies (Hemerocallis), Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria), foxtail lilies (Eremurus), lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria) and lilies-of-the-Nile or African blue lilies (Agapanthus).
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Misconceptions
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Flamingo lily is also known by its botanical name, Anthurium. Many common names include plants not closely related to true lilies or members of the lily family. Waterlilies (Nymphaea) are in the family Nymphaeceae. Zephyr lilies (Zephyranthes) and spider lilies (Lycoris and Hymenocallis) are part of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Calla lilies (Zantedeschia) and flamingo lilies (Anthurium) belong to the aroid family, Araceae, while ginger lilies (Hedychium) in the ginger family, Zingiberaceae.
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References
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- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images Lily/ image by Aleksander Reshetnik from Fotolia.com Agapanthus image by Fraser Cambridge from Fotolia.com Lily image by AMA from Fotolia.com
