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Lily of the valley
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Lily of the valley
Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), also written lily of the valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native in Europe and western and northern Asia.
The former varieties Convallaria majalis var. montana (native to eastern North America) and Convallaria majalis var. keiskei (native to eastern Asia), are now split as the separate species Convallaria pseudomajalis, and Convallaria keiskei, respectively.
Due to the concentration of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), it is highly poisonous if consumed by humans or other animals.
Other names include May bells, Our Lady's tears, and Mary's tears. Its French name, muguet, sometimes appears in the names of perfumes imitating the flower's scent. In pre-modern England, the plant was known as glovewort (as it was a wort used to create a salve for sore hands), or Apollinaris (according to a legend that it was discovered by Apollo).
Convallaria majalis is a herbaceous perennial plant that often forms extensive colonies by spreading underground stems called rhizomes. New upright shoots are formed at the ends of stolons in summer. These grow in the spring into new leafy shoots that still remain connected to the other shoots under ground. The stems grow to 15–35 cm (6–14 in) tall, with two (rarely three) leaves 5–20 cm (2–8 in) long and 3–7 cm (1–3 in) broad. The flowering stems have a one-sided raceme of six to twelve pendulous flowers on the upper part of the stem.
The flowers have six white tepals (rarely pink), fused at the base to form a bell shape and with reflexed tips, 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) diameter, and are sweetly scented; flowering is in late spring, typically May to June in Britain; in mild winters in the Northern Hemisphere it can be as early as March.[citation needed] The fruit is a small orange-red berry 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) diameter that contains an average of 3.9 large whitish to brownish seeds that dry to a clear translucent round bead 1–3 mm (0.04–0.12 in) wide. The fruit persists for an average of 47.5 days. The fruit averages 85.8% water, and their dry weight includes 14.6% carbohydrates and 1.3% lipids. Plants are self-incompatible, and colonies consisting of a single clone do not set seed.
In the APG III system, the genus is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Convallarioideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). It was formerly placed in its own family Convallariaceae, and, like many lilioid monocots, before that in the lily family Liliaceae.
In the past, it was widely treated in three varieties, but these are now separated out as distinct species.
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Lily of the valley
Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), also written lily of the valley, is a woodland flowering plant with sweetly scented, pendent, bell-shaped white flowers borne in sprays in spring. It is native in Europe and western and northern Asia.
The former varieties Convallaria majalis var. montana (native to eastern North America) and Convallaria majalis var. keiskei (native to eastern Asia), are now split as the separate species Convallaria pseudomajalis, and Convallaria keiskei, respectively.
Due to the concentration of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), it is highly poisonous if consumed by humans or other animals.
Other names include May bells, Our Lady's tears, and Mary's tears. Its French name, muguet, sometimes appears in the names of perfumes imitating the flower's scent. In pre-modern England, the plant was known as glovewort (as it was a wort used to create a salve for sore hands), or Apollinaris (according to a legend that it was discovered by Apollo).
Convallaria majalis is a herbaceous perennial plant that often forms extensive colonies by spreading underground stems called rhizomes. New upright shoots are formed at the ends of stolons in summer. These grow in the spring into new leafy shoots that still remain connected to the other shoots under ground. The stems grow to 15–35 cm (6–14 in) tall, with two (rarely three) leaves 5–20 cm (2–8 in) long and 3–7 cm (1–3 in) broad. The flowering stems have a one-sided raceme of six to twelve pendulous flowers on the upper part of the stem.
The flowers have six white tepals (rarely pink), fused at the base to form a bell shape and with reflexed tips, 5–10 mm (0.2–0.4 in) diameter, and are sweetly scented; flowering is in late spring, typically May to June in Britain; in mild winters in the Northern Hemisphere it can be as early as March.[citation needed] The fruit is a small orange-red berry 5–7 mm (0.2–0.3 in) diameter that contains an average of 3.9 large whitish to brownish seeds that dry to a clear translucent round bead 1–3 mm (0.04–0.12 in) wide. The fruit persists for an average of 47.5 days. The fruit averages 85.8% water, and their dry weight includes 14.6% carbohydrates and 1.3% lipids. Plants are self-incompatible, and colonies consisting of a single clone do not set seed.
In the APG III system, the genus is placed in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Convallarioideae (formerly the family Ruscaceae). It was formerly placed in its own family Convallariaceae, and, like many lilioid monocots, before that in the lily family Liliaceae.
In the past, it was widely treated in three varieties, but these are now separated out as distinct species.
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