XXI.— THE LILY-OF-THE-VALLEY. 
Convallaria majalis Linne. 
I N medieval times the names Lilium convallium and Lilium inter spinas , the Lily- 
of-the-valley and the Lily-among-thorns, were familiar Biblical phrases ; but the 
association of these names with this beautiful British woodland species is more 
modern. So far as the Biblical names are not of purely general application they 
belong to some showy red-flowered species of the open, probably Anemone 
coronaria L., whilst the “ Rose of Sharon,” with which it is often coupled, may be 
Narcissus Tazetta L. 
To Fuchs (1542) our plant is Ephemerum non lethale ; but Turner, in 1548, 
writes under that heading : — 
“Ephemerum is called in duch mayblume, in french Muguet. It groweth plentuously in Germany, but not in England 
that euer I could see, sauynge in my Lordes gardine at Syon. The Poticaries in Germany do name it Lilium conuallium, it 
may be called in englishe May Lilies.” 
The German and French names remain unchanged to-day, though the latter 
sometimes has the month of flowering added, becoming Muguet de mai. Dr. Prior 
says that Mugget also occurs as an English name ; but Gerard says of the French, 
“there is likewise another herbe which they call Muguet, commonly named in English Woodroof” ; 
a thirteenth-century Vocabulary has “ muge de bois, wuderove ” ; and Lyte (1578) 
applies Muguet to the fragrant yellow-flowered species of the allied genus Galium , the 
Bedstraws, G . Cruciata Withering, and G. verum L. “ Muguet ” is the Old French 
musquet, from the Latin muscatus , musk-scented ; but there is little likeness between 
the perfume of these Rubiace<e , which is that of coumarin or “ new-mown hay,” and 
the rich luscious scent of the Lily-of-the-valley, which approximates to that of various 
other white blossoms, such as Jasmine, Butterfly Orchis, Mock Orange, and 
Stephanotis. 
Though Linnaeus adopted the generic name Convallaria , from the Latin 
convallis, a valley, adding the specific name majalis, “belonging to May,” the species 
is by no means specially characteristic of valleys, flourishing in woodland at 
an altitude of a thousand feet, even in the north of England. That the word 
“ valley ” conveys but little meaning to many English rustics may be gauged from 
the fact that on the borders of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire, where the plant is 
abundant in the fir-woods on a sandy soil, it is commonly offered for sale as “Lilies 
and valleys,” and the leaves are termed “ valleys ” ; whilst the senseless-seeming 
phonetic corruption of names is well exemplified in “ Liricon-fancy,” which is 
recorded as early as Lyte’s “ Herball ” (1578). 
The plant has slender succulent rhizomes, with long internodes, which often 
become thickly entangled underground, and in many places the plant spreads for 
years over a considerable area though seldom flowering. Lateral branches rise to 
the surface, bearing several purplish leaf-sheaths and two or three fully-developed 
