Lily Flower

 

The lily is a large, showy, flowering plant that has more than 100 different species. Lilies come is many different colors, including white, pink, plum, yellow, orange and red. The lily is grown all over parts of Paris and France and is used quite often in flower arrangements.

Lily flowers are useful in medical field.

Benefits of lily flower

If you boil the lily roots or bulbs into a tea, the lily can treat stomach issues and fevers and can help women during labor. During the 16th century, herbalists would steep lily of the valley and use it as an antidote for gout. It was also added to wine to stimulate memory and focus. Lily of the valley was also used to strengthen heartbeat and to reduce blood volume and blood pressure. Lily of the valley is also good for the heart because it minimizes the irritability of the myocardium (muscular tissue of the heart).

Lilies are also used to treat skin ulcers, inflammation, burns and rashes as well. The roots can be formed into an ointment that aids in preventing the formation of scar tissue. You can apply the lily root ointment directly to the burned spot. Dried lilies are known to contain large amounts of fiber, sodium and carbohydrates.

The bulbs are known to have essential proteins and starch with a small amount of calcium, iron, phosphorous, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin C. The tiger lily can be used to treat coughs, chest pains and sore throats. It also has anti-inflammatory and diuretic properties. The Lilium brownii has a variety of properties and can be used to treat anything from coughs and intestinal issues to anxiety.

Over the years, scientists have discovered healing powers in various flowers. Some found that lilies contained antitoxic powers capable of curing depression. Europeans found that lilies healed various types of diseases and ailments.

(Dry White Lily flower is used in folk medicine and cosmetology.)

Ways to Use Lilies in Food

Native Americans would use wood lilies in a variety of ways when cooking food. They would boil it, bake it, roast it and use it as a thickening agent in soup. Hummingbirds use the flower for its nectar.

(Dried living flower buds/ chinese cooking ingredient)

Color Meaning

•  The white lily represents one’s desire for purity and virtue.
•  The pink lily expresses the yearning for wealth and prosperity.
•  The African lily, bearing a lavender color, tells the recipient that someone secretly loves them.  
• The yellow lily symbolizes thankfulness and the desire for enjoyment.

About Lily Symbolism

Lilies are frequently associated with devotion, rebirth, motherhood and purity depending on the type of lily, culture and color. In China, lilies are used as wedding flowers because they are considered to be good luck and will grant the couple 100 years of love.

Assyrians and Babylonians associated lilies with the goddess of fertility, Ishtar, whereas Christians associate lilies (specifically Madonna lilies) with the Virgin Mary. 

Lilies mostly grow in the colors white (symbolizes purity and virtue), yellow (symbolizes thankfulness and desire for enjoyment), pink (symbolizes prosperity and abundance), red (symbolizes passion) and orange (symbolizes confidence, pride and wealth).

Festivities

Pagan Significance

Ancient pagans used white lilies as decorations on May Day. On this holiday in Scotland people light fires and celebrate the beginning of Earth's fertile season. Part of the festivities include young women dancing around the May Pole with ribbons with lilies in their hair. The dance weaves the fates in search of a mate. In this setting lilies represent renewed life, health and fertility.

Language of Dreams

White lilies appearing in dreams portend an upcoming marriage or other happy occasion. If you dream of lilies in winter, it presages loss or separation. Looking at a white lily flower in your dream means the success of a new endeavor and purity of intention. Tossing lilies away indicates ignoring important information or exploiting power.

Resource : Garden guide.com

Apart from all these facts lily flower has it's own charming history in greek mythology and also lily flower is also used as a beautiful symbol in literature.

Lily flower also referred to Greek Goddess Hera. 

             

There is an amazing and wonderful mythical story based on Lily Flower. The story literally explains the origin of the lily flower in a charming and most magnificent way.

Here is the story

According to the Greek history, Lily Flower originates with the story of Hera and Zeus. Hera is the Greek goddess of marriage and birth and when talking about Zeus, he is the king of Greek Gods. According to the myth, Zeus wanted his baby (Hercules; Greek devine hero) to drink the milk of Hera instead of the baby's real mother because Zeus wanted his son to be devine. Hercules's real mother was a human. He thought his goddess wife Hera could breastfeed Hercules. So that Hercules could gain some powers through breast milk. But Hera did not want to give Hercules her milk as he wasn't her child. So in the mid night, Zeus brought Hercules to drink Hera's milk in the time she was sleeping. When Hera woke up, she pushed him away emitting her milk across the universe. This action formed the Milky Way and lilies upon the earth.

Pic credit goes to google.