St Bernard's lily

Scientific name: Anthericum liliago

Förekomst: Rare

St Bernard's lily is rare and only known from Skåne, Blekinge, Öland and Östergötland. Its main distribution is in southwestern Europe and the Mediterranean area. The occurrence in Sweden is a northern outpost.

It grows on dry sandy soil and requires warm habitats to thrive. It is found on Öland mainly on the central parts of Stora alvaret in karst cracks, on thin, sandy and gravelly deposits and also on weathering gravel.

St Bernard's lily usually blooms in June with white fragrant flowers that sit in a usually sparse and unbranched cluster. The flowers are large, about four inches wide.

St Bernard's lily is very similar to branched St Bernard's-lily, which differs from St Bernard's lily by branched inflorescence and smaller flowers. Branched St Bernard's-lily blooms later than St Bernard's lily.

St Bernard's lily is told in ancient legends that it had an antidote to the bites of scorpions, spiders and the like.

The species name liliago comes from Lilium which is the scientific name for the genus lilies and agere (bear) and means lily-like or lily-bearing. The family name Anthericum comes from the Greek antherikos (straw), which refers to the grass-like leaves.

St Bernard's lily is protected and strongly threatened in Sweden.

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