Lilium candidum 

var. salonikae 'Madonna Lily'

[Ex. Babuna 870 m., Macedonia]

COMMING SOON!

Liliaceae: a bulbous perennial to 1.8m, with erect stems. Found on rocky slopes and in scrub. The flowers are fragrant, trumpet-shaped pure white, 6-8cm in length are carried in terminal racemes of up to 20, blooming in July. The leaves are glossy dark green, and scattered. Native to South Western Asia. Naturalized in Europe around the Mediterranean.

USES:

The bulb can be eaten if cooked. The raw bulb contains an acrid principle, but this is destroyed by drying or thorough heating. When cooked the bulb is pulpy, sweet and sugary. Rich in starch, it can be used as a vegetable in similar ways to potatoes (Solanum tuberosum).

The Madonna lily has a long history of herbal use, though it is seldom employed in modern herbalism because of its scarcity. The bulb and the flowers are astringent, highly demulcent, emmenagogue, emollient and expectorant. The plant is mainly used externally, being applied as a poultice to tumours, ulcers, external inflammations. The bulb is harvested in August and can be used fresh or dried. The flowers are harvested when fully open and used fresh for making juice, ointments or tinctures. The pollen has been used in the treatment of epilepsy.

An essential oil from the flowers is used in perfumery.

GROWING INFORMATION:

Fill the pot with compost to the internal level mark, and sow the seeds separately on top of this compost. A simple method with ten or fifteen seeds is to work clockwise round the pot a little way in from the rim, then dot the last few seeds around the centre. Some people score the top of the compost lightly, so that they can stand the flat seeds on edge - they claim this gives better results. If you have lots of seed of one species, don't be tempted to sow them more thickly than this. This doesn't seem to increase the number of young plants you get from that size of pot. Instead, use a deep tray. When all the seeds are in place, top the pot with a finger's thickness of coarse lime-free grit. Put in a label with the name of the lily, the date, and the number of seeds - it's always interesting to see later what proportion germinate, and grow on to be transplanted. After sowing, water the pot well, and put it out of doors, in a shady spot. Some people like to cover the pots with a cloche or cold frame, as protection against very wet weather, slugs, and scratching birds and animals.

Don't abandon a bare seed pot until after at least three years, as some lilies can delay germination till they have been through several seasonal cycles.

Prefers an open free-draining humus-rich fertile loamy soil with its roots in the shade and its head in the sun. Prefers a sunny position but also succeeds in shade. Succeeds in ordinary garden soil. Grows well in acid and limy soils, though it prefers a limey soil. It is best to leave the clumps undisturbed since they resent being moved. The plant should be protected against rabbits and slugs in early spring. If the shoot tip is eaten out the bulb will not grow in that year and will lose vigour.

9CM POTS.