Do you ever know about White Lily Flower...? And why it is so special?

White lily Lilium candidum

Lilium candidum L. belongs to the Liliaceae family. It grows throughout Mediterranean regions and western Asia. It probably originated in Persia and Syria. Although often cultivated as a garden plant, it can be found spontaneously growing in the fields around gardens and country houses.

White lily is a perennial plant growing up to 60-150 cm in height. It’s a bulb species with large scaly white bulbs, about 1 m tall stalks, and linear leaves; some leaves attached to the base of the stalk, spreading around it, other leaves erect, lanceolate, with slightly dentate margins.

Flowers are rather large and strikingly white. Each flower has six slightly curved petals and six stamens with white filaments and long yellow anthers.

The strongly aromatic white lilies bloom from May onwards. Seeds can be harvested from August to September. Bulbs are odorless, with a bitter and mucilaginous taste. Bulbs are harvested in August and can be used fresh or dried. Bulbs and flowers are the parts of the white lily plant that are used for therapeutic purposes.

The essential oil, extracted from flowers (0,3%), is rich in vanillin (up to 2,5%), p- hydroxy-m-methoxytoluene (up to 50%), p-cresol, linalol, terpineol, phenylethyl alcohol and its esters, with acetic, palmitic, benzoic, propionic and cinnamic acids. Flowers also contain flavonoids (kaempherol and its derivatives), lilaline, jatrophine and carotenoids.

Bulbs contain starch (about 14%), soluble polysaccharides (glucomannan)4, phytosterols, pyrrolic alkaloids, amino acids, such as g-methylene glutamic acid, and tannins. 2. d- methylene glutamic acid can be found in the bulb scales. By blooming time, bulbs and roots contain abundant amounts of the later acid, together with its lactone derivative - a-methylene-butyrolactone - and mineral salts, noticeably boron. Novel saponins of the spirostanol and furostanol types have been identified in Lilium candidum bulbs.