Lily of the valley

Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis), also written as lily of the valley,

The former varieties Convallaria majalis var. montana (native to eastern North America) and Convallaria majalis var. keiskei (native to eastern Asia), are now split as the separate species Convallaria pseudomajalis, and Convallaria keiskei, respectively.

Due to the high concentration of potent cardiac glycosides (cardenolides), it is highly poisonous if consumed by humans or other animals.

Other names include May bells, Our Lady's tears, and Mary's tears. Its French name, , sometimes appears in the names of perfumes imitating the flower's scent. In pre-modern England, the plant was known as glovewort (as it was a wort used to create a salve for sore hands), or Apollinaris (according to a legend that it was discovered by Apollo).

Description

thumb|Foliage and flowers

Convallaria majalis is a herbaceous perennial plant that often forms extensive colonies by spreading underground stems called rhizomes. New upright shoots are formed at the ends of stolons in summer. The flowering stems have a one-sided raceme of six to twelve pendulous flowers on the upper part of the stem.). It was formerly placed in its own family Convallariaceae, and, like many lilioid monocots, before that in the lily family Liliaceae.

In the past, it was widely treated in three varieties, but these are now separated out as distinct species.

Convallaria majalis var. majalis, from Europe and western Asia, with white midribs on the flowers – now known as Convallaria majalis sensu stricto.
Convallaria majalis var. montana – from the southern Appalachian Mountains, with green-tinted midribs on the flowers and is also absent from Ireland as a native species, though is naturalised there.

Ecology

Convallaria majalis is a plant of partial shade, and a mesophile type that prefers warm summers. It grows widely in both acidic soils and alkaline soils, liking soils that are silty or sandy, but also locally in wet fen soils, with preferably a plentiful amount of humus. It is a Euroasiatic and suboceanic species that occurs from sea level up to altitude in Great Britain,

Convallaria majalis is used as a food plant by the larvae of some moth and butterfly (Lepidoptera) species including the grey chi. Adults and larvae of the leaf beetle Lilioceris merdigera are also able to tolerate the cardenolides and thus feed on the leaves.

The fruit is sometimes removed by graniviorous rodents, consuming most of the seeds but only a small proportion of the fruit pulp. Their hoarding of both seeds and whole fruit has been observed. As some seeds inevitably escape predation, they also act as seed dispersers.

Cultivars

Convallaria majalis is widely grown in gardens for its scented flowers and ground-covering abilities in shady locations. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. In favourable conditions it can form large colonies.

Various kinds and cultivars are grown, including those with double flowers, rose-coloured flowers, variegated foliage and ones that grow larger than the typical species.

Chemistry

thumb|220x124px | right | General chemical make-up of a cardiac glycoside

Roughly 38 different cardiac glycosides (cardenolides) – which are highly toxic if consumed by humans or animals – occur in the plant, including:

{| width="left" style="width: 450px" border="0"

|- valign="top"

convallarin
convallamarin
convallatoxin
convallotoxoloside
convallosid
neoconvalloside
glucoconvalloside
majaloside
convallatoxon
corglycon
cannogenol-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside
cannogenol-3-O-β-D-allomethyloside
cannogenol-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-β-D-glucoside,
cannogenol-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-rhamnoside,
strophanthidin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-rhamnoside,
strophanthidin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-arabinoside,
strophanthidin-3-O-α-L-rhamnosido-2-β-D-glucoside,
sarmentogenin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-allosido-α-L-rhamnoside
sarmentogenin-3-O-6-deoxy-β-D-guloside
19-hydroxy-sarmentogenin-3-O-α-L-rhamnoside,
19-hydroxy-sarmentogenin
arabinosido-6-deoxyallose
lokundjoside

The scent of lily of the valley, specifically the ligand bourgeonal, was once thought to attract mammalian sperm. The 2003 discovery of this phenomenon prompted research into odour reception, but a 2012 study demonstrated instead that at high concentrations, bourgeonal imitated the role of progesterone in stimulating sperm to swim (chemotaxis), a process unrelated to odour reception.

Toxicology

All parts of the plant are potentially poisonous, including the red berries which may be attractive to children. If ingested, the plant can cause abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and irregular heartbeats. Although it has since been reformulated, it is considered a classic. Because no natural aromatic extract can be produced from lily of the valley, its scent must be recreated synthetically; while Diorissimo originally achieved this with hydroxycitronellal, the European Chemicals Agency now considers it a skin sensitizer and its use has been restricted.

Other perfumes imitating or based on the flower include Henri Robert's Muguet de Bois (1936), Penhaligon's Lily of the Valley (1976), Lily of the valley was featured in the bridal bouquet at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. Lily of the valley was also the flower chosen by Princess Grace of Monaco to be featured in her bridal bouquet.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it became tradition in France to sell lily of the valley on international Labour Day, 1 May (also called or Lily of the Valley Day) by labour organisations and private persons without paying sales tax (on that day only) as a symbol of spring.

Lily of the valley is worn in Helston (Cornwall, UK) on Flora Day (8 May each year, see Furry Dance) representing the coming of "the May-o" and the summer. There is also a song sung in pubs around Cornwall (and on Flora Day in Cadgwith, near Helston) called "Lily of the Valley"; the song, strangely, came from the Jubilee Singers from Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Folk medicine

The plant has been used in folk medicine for centuries. There is a reference to "Lilly of the valley water" in Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel Kidnapped, where it is said to be "good against the Gout", and that it "comforts the heart and strengthens the memory" and "restores speech to those that have the dumb palsey". There is no scientific evidence that lily of the valley has any effective medicinal uses for treating human diseases. and it also became the national flower of Finland in 1967.

In the "language of flowers", the lily of the valley signifies the return of happiness.

Myths and religion

The name "lily of the valley", like its correspondences in some other European languages, is apparently a reference to the Bible phrase "lily of the valleys" (sometimes also translated as "lily of the valley") in Song of Songs 2:1 (). European herbalists' use of the phrase to refer to a specific plant species seems to have appeared relatively late in the 16th or 15th century. The Neo-Latin term convallaria (coined by Carl Linnaeus) and, for example, the Swedish name ' derives from the corresponding phrase lilium convallium in the Vulgate.

In culture

The lily of the valley is represented both literally and symbolically in art, literature, music, and other media. The flower is the theme of a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Tchaikovsky wrote the poem "Lilies of the Valley" () in December 1878 while in Florence. In Anton Chekhov's 1898 short story "A Doctor's Visit", drops of convallaria are mentioned as medicine. Marc Chagall produced the painting Lillies-of-the-Valley in 1916.

Lily of the valley was reputedly Queen Elizabeth II's favourite flower, and so it was the theme of the poem "Floral Tribute" by the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, written in memory of the Queen and published in the week after her death. Previously, an eponymous song was written by English rock band Queen and released as part of the 1974 studio album Sheer Heart Attack.

"Face Off", the finale of the fourth season of the television series Breaking Bad, features the use of berries from lily of the valley as poison because the symptoms are similar to ricin poisoning. In the third episode of Outlander, children are revealed to have been dying after confusing Lily of the Valley for garlic and eating it.

Gallery

File:Convallaria-oliv-r2.jpg|Convallaria close-up

File:Convallaria majalis Kemi, Finland 02.06.2013.jpg|Convallarias in Kemi in early June

File:Stamp of Moldova 429.gif|Moldovan stamp

File:Pennä reverse Anu 1990.jpg|Finnish 10 penny coin with the Convallaria engraving

File:1 of May, 1851.jpg|The First of May 1851 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

File:Lunner komm.svg|Lunner (Norway) municipal coat of arms

</gallery>

References

Bibliography

External links

Invasive Plant Atlas – US Distribution Map