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LILY
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The lily family, Liliaceae, is a member of the subclass Monocotyledonae (with one seed leaf), in the class Angiospermae (flowering plants). It is one of the largest families of flowering plants, containing more than 200 genera and about 3,000 species. It is worldwide in distribution, with most species occurring in temperate and subtropical regions. Members of this family are mostly perennial herbs with storage rootstock in the form of bulbs, corms, rhizomes, or tubers. The flowers are usually bisexual--having both male (stamen) and female (pistil) parts--and possess regular symmetry; they are commonly tubular, with three petals and three sepals of similar appearance. The fruit is a capsule or a berry. The garden asparagus, Asparagus officinalis, is a member of the lily family. Among the popular ornamental plants that belong to the lily family are the aloe, Aloe, hyacinth, Hyacinthus, lily, Lilium, and tulip, Tulipa. In some classifications certain of these plants may be placed in other families, and some so-called lilies are not members of the Liliaceae.
The lily genus, Lilium, contains about 80 species native to the northern temperate regions. They usually possess a bulb-type rootstock, with solitary or clustered flowers in white, yellow, orange, purple, or maroon, but never blue. The lily is believed to have been under cultivation longer than any other ornamental flower, having existed in gardens 3,000 years ago. The white lily is considered the flower of purity and chastity. Since the early Middle Ages it has been an attribute of many saints and of the Virgin Mary. Most of today's popular lilies were developed since 1940. Many are hybrids of two Japanese species, L. auratum and L. speciosum. Since 1950 about 1,000 new hybrid lilies have been bred and registered in various parts of the world.
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