When is a Lily not a Lily?
In my humble view if it is not a member of the Liliaceae botanical family it is not a Lily regardless of its common name. Having said that, for reasons unbeknownst to me some plants have changed families so many times, it is hard to keep track, in fact, they continue to change, so some of the information that I have managed to discover may not be up to date. For example, my “go to” botanical book source (published in 2002) has Lily of the Valley in the Convallariaceae family (same as Solomon’s Seal), however, according to Wikipedia it has already moved on to the Asparagaceae family, with a few stops along the way.
Given that my paper source is likely out of date I moved onto the more reliable (?) source, Wikipedia. Bottom line, the source of information may be dated, or incorrect, but this was fun to research.
Lily of the Valley
Family – Asparagaceae
Species – Convallara majallis
Verdict – not a Lily
Day Lily
Family – Asphodelaceae
Species – Hemerocallis spp
Verdict – not a Lily
Trout Lily (this is what you will see hopefully on a walk)
Family – Liliaceae
Species – Erythronium americanum
Verdict – a Lily
Easter Lily
Family – Liliaceae
Species – Lilium longiflorum
Verdict – a Lily
Lisa Bennett