The Lily of the Valley

The Lily of the Valley

The Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) is a perennial to 30 cm high into the wild in wooded areas, as well as garden plant is held. Basically there is a creeping rhizome. A few broad parallelnervige leaves are at the foot of the peduncle. The lily of the valley is poisonous because it contains certain glycosides.

The leaves are broad-elliptic, petiolate and hairless. They are two of us together. Among the plant is a sheath of papery sheets.

The flower is white, bell-shaped and has a pleasant smell. The flowers are about 8 mm long. It is a cultivar with pink flowers. It forms one side facing a bunch of six to twelve flowers. This blooms in May and June. The species name means majalis' of May.

The fruit of the lily of the valley is a red berry, two blue seeds.

The flowers and roots are processed by the pharmaceutical industry, because it can affect heart function. In ancient writings from the 16th century can be found that this knowledge was already known. The dried flowers were also added to snuff.

The flowers can not be extracted essential oil. Because the smell is very popular in perfumery and cosmetics, such as using fragrances hydroxycitronellal composed.


Trivia

The Lily of the Valley is the national flower of Finland.

The Lily of the valley is also called lily of the valley.



Source: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lelietje-van-dalen


See also: Sending Flowers, Online Florist