Plant Journeys blog post #7 – Lily: a delicacy

Our current exhibition at Broughton House, Plant Journeys, includes a wonderful selection of plant-inspired Japanese objects collected by ‘Glasgow Boy’ Edward Atkinson Hornel when he was in Japan in 1894–5 and again in the 1920s. In this series, researcher Dr Minna Törmä explores the same plants by season, highlighting the history of their introduction into Europe, their meaning and significance in Eastern cultures, and what makes each one so special.

True lilies, belonging to the genus Lilium, are herbaceous plants that grow from bulbs. Their flowers are big, protruding and often have a pleasant fragrance. While there are other flowers called lilies, like the water lily, they are not part of the same genus.

Hornel’s collection contains the Yokohama Nursery catalogue Lilies of Japan. The pages displayed in the exhibition show Lilium tigrinum (currently called L. lancifolium as it was discovered that these two were actually the same species) and L. henryi. Tiger lily, as L. tigrinum is commonly called, arrived in England in 1804 when William Kerr (1779–1814) sent it to Kew Gardens, though it was known in Europe much earlier as can be seen in a 17th-century European drawing.

L. henryi was brought to Europe from China by Augustine Henry (1857–1930), a renowned plantsman and sinologist (expert in East Asian studies). While the orange tiger lily is the most famous, true lilies actually come in a wide range of colours, such as yellow, as shown in other sections of the catalogue.

Lilies in East Asia have long been grown for their edible roots. Unlike other plants showcased in the Plant Journeys exhibition, lilies may not have as many cultural associations. Nevertheless, in China, they are known as baihe, which translates to ‘hundred together‘. Lilies are often depicted in visual rebuses to represent the number 100 (bai). In the Chinese painting below, you‘ll notice a unique combination of tiger lily, toad, and fruit, which symbolise the Dragon Boat Festival in China.

The plant is often delicately painted, as in the aforementioned painting or on the Japanese fan below.