Description of the flower of the lily of the valley. Lily of the valley in May (Convallaria majalis L.)

The first spring flowers delight the heart, tired of winter cold. Lilies of the valley come to us together with the spring, which has already fully entered into its rights and melted snow with its breathing. The description of the lily-of-the-valley flower can not be embellished for a simple reason - it is ideal! The persistent aroma of the spring lily of the valley is able to make anyone turn a head in the most direct sense of the word.

Description of the lily of the valley flower

Lily of the valley in May (Convallaria majalis) is a herbaceous plant. It does not have tree-like persistent stems. In the lily of the valley, the stems are soft, which, together with the leaves, die off after the end of the growing season.

This miracle of nature can not but cause admiration. Elegant little bells with a beautiful unique flavor - this is the flowers of a beautiful forest man. The description of the lily-of-the-valley flower as fragile and defenseless does not quite correspond to the truth. Lily of the valley at first glance really seems very gentle and weak, but in fact it is strong, capable of capturing large areas, easily tolerates temperature changes and sudden changes in weather.

The description of the lily-of-the-valley flower does not take much time. No, probably not a single person who does not know what this flower looks like. On a one-sided, racemose peduncle, 6 to 20 small bells of white or pale pink are densely packed. Although European gardeners for a long time know how to grow purple-red with large double flowers and leaves in a yellow strip of lily of the valley. Flowering begins in May and lasts for 20 to 25 days.

After the flowers bloom, on the peduncle there are tiny berries, in the fall they become red. Birds and rodents like to enjoy these berries.

The leaves of the lily of the valley are large and beautiful, even without flowers, they serve as a decoration for the flower garden. They are quite broad and similar to the ears of fallow deer, because of this similarity the plant got its name "landushka", which means in Stavropol "ear of deer". Although this is not the only version of the origin of the name "lily of the valley". Incense incense during burning produces a smell, very similar to the fragrant fragrance of the lily of the valley, which justifies the consonance of both names.

Types of lily of the valley

Botany identified only one genus of lily of the valley, but the variety of subspecies is striking in its beauty. Plants belonging to different subspecies differ markedly from each other. Thanks to the work of breeders, varieties with different color and size of flowers have been taken out to date.

In the territory of the former Soviet Union there are three types of lilies of the valley:

• Lily of the Valley Keyseye.
• The Lily of the Valley of the Transcaucasus.
• Lily of the Valley May.

All these types are used to treat diseases. The most common flowers are lily of the valley May. He received his name in 1737, at the same time the description of this plant was published for the first time. Translated from Latin May Lily of the Valley means "lily of the valleys".

Areal

Lily of the valley is listed in the Red Book because of a sharp reduction in the range of its distribution. This spring flower is considered to be aggressive and can create whole colonies of fragrant bells, but, having broken only one flower, you can lime an entire colony. If you look superficially, you get the impression that the lilies of the valley are growing everywhere, but in fact the plant is inexorably disappearing. Such a deplorable situation was caused by deforestation and the construction of settlements in their place. Illiterate collection of lily-of-the-valley flowers as medicinal raw materials also brought considerable damage to forest handsome people. Flower lovers, planting lilies of the valley on their sites, receive in the spring the delicate beauty of these plants and at the same time they save the endangered species.

Where on the site to "lodge" a lily of the valley

A white lily of the valley is a perennial plant, rather unpretentious, but if you decide to "plant" such flowers in your garden, then you need to find a place that is hidden from the sun. Having settled in a shade, lily of the valley for decades will please the owners of the site with their beauty. Being in the cold, the plant will bloom for five weeks.

Lily of the valley due to the underground stems-roots forms dense colonies. Therefore, in order to avoid undesirable proliferation, the landing site should be surrounded by a strong edging, using for this purpose stones or bricks half buried in the ground.

Lilies of the valley use as a decorative design beds and alpine hills in containers or flower pots. Thus, they can easily be moved to shaded places, and after flowering replaced by other plants, although in addition to beautiful flowers, the lily of the valley will decorate the flower garden with its equally attractive leaves, which serve as an excellent background for high colors.

Cultivation

Lily of the valley can live in one place for about 10 years, as already mentioned, this plant is unpretentious, it feels great in any cool place. The land in the flower bed for lilies of the valley should be rich in organic. Before planting the plant, the soil must be dug to a depth of 25 cm and fertilized with the manure or the peat-humus compost (2 kg per 1 sq. M.). Plant lilies of the valley in early spring and autumn, while adhering to the main rule - intensified watering immediately after planting.

The fragrant handsome growers multiply seeds and divide the rhizomes. When dividing roots take lengths of 6-8 cm, while they should be a few apical buds. Planting the shoots, you need to ensure that the roots do not bend, and the growths were above the surface at a height of not more than 2 cm. It is necessary to plant the plant linearly with a distance of 8-10 cm.

Using the seed method of reproduction, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the seedlings hide under the ground for the first year. On the second spring the plant shows its first leaf, which is tightly twisted and resembles a spear that looks out from under the ground. As the leaf grows, the lily of the valley turns around, giving way to the second. The formed leaves accumulate in the funnel created by them, water, which nourishes the roots. For the second autumn the plant already has a thick rhizome, from which new shoots grow.

Care

To take care of the lilies of the valley is simple, the main thing is to water the drought in the summer. The plant is not afraid of winter cold, so there is no need to wrap it from frost. With the onset of spring, a flower bed with lilies of the valley should be cleared of dead leaves. New shoots grow themselves.

Lily of the valley - this plant is poisonous, in contact with it you must adhere to safety rules so as not to harm your health.

Healing properties

Flowers lily of the valley can be both poison and medicine. To use the plant for the sake of health, you need to know all its healing properties, they have this pretty handsome. Officially lily of the valley medicinal entered the medicine only in 1861, when its curative force was used in the treatment of S.P. Botkin

This medicinal plant is valued for its chemical composition, in which substances such as sugars and cardiac glycosides are present . They strengthen the healing power of the lily of the valley. In folk medicine, it is used to treat the nervous system, arrhythmia, cardiovascular diseases. Fever can be eliminated with powder from the root of the lily of the valley. Flowers and leaves are used to relieve physical strain and to treat neuroses. When rheumatism recommended baths from broth.

In modern medicine, drugs based on lily of the valley are successfully used for headache, epilepsy, dropsy.

A lily of the valley is certainly a useful plant, but if you use it thoughtlessly, you can do yourself harm. Medicines from the lily of the valley are forbidden to be used in patients with liver and kidneys, and treatment of lily of the valley with people suffering from diseases of the gastrointestinal tract is also counter-indicative. It is recommended to consult a doctor before starting treatment with this plant, and in no case should it exceed the dosage. It must be remembered that all parts of the lily of the valley are poisonous.

A bit of history

Spring flower, called a lily of the valley, for many centuries was considered a flower of the German goddess of the rising sun, Ostar. When the spring fully entered into its rights, the young girls collected fragrant bouquets of lilies of the valley and carried them to the temple to propitiate the sun goddess. In the era of Christianity, the lily of the valley from the flower embodying love and happiness turned into a flower of sadness, on holidays it was no longer presented, instead it was constantly depicted on canvases with the Virgin Mary. In mythology, a lily of the valley is a flower of loss. His description is identified with the blood of St. Leonard and with the tears of the Blessed Virgin, who mourns the death of her son.

In the sixteenth century, thanks to the French aristocrats, the lily of the valley regained its honor and glory. The flower was appreciated and used to decorate the front gardens and parks. Today, on the first Sunday of May, a lily-of-the-valley holiday is celebrated. In the Russian Empire, it was only in the eighteenth century that this beautiful and delicate plant was grown and planted on the flowerbeds.