Just as the poinsettia takes center stage at
Christmas time, the Easter Lily does the same at Easter time, adorning our
sanctuaries and being used to decorate our altars for the Easter season every
year. The Easter Lily was discovered by a missionary priest in the 19th century
on Ryukyu Island, off Japan. It is a stem rooting lily, growing up to 3 feet
high. It bears a number of trumpet shaped, white, fragrant, and outward facing
flowers, with pointed green leaves. Its technical name is Lilium longiflorum. The
missionary who found it eventually tried to take some bulbs to England, but was
stranded in Bermuda, where they bloomed for the first time on April 16, 1854.
They reached Philadelphia in 1876. From the 1890s to the early 1920s,
there was a thriving export trade of bulbs from Bermuda to New York. A disease
affected the Bermuda lilies: this was identified by Lawrence Ogilvie. Then most
Easter lily bulbs arriving in the United States were imported from Japan before
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. Once
the plant and flowers have withered, you can plant the bulb in any garden, and
they will come up again. In warmer climates, they will sprout again by the
following August, otherwise, wait for next spring.
Monday 10 April 2023
The Easter Lily
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