Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis. The delicate, bell-like blossoms combined on a stem brush our nostrils with their intoxicating scent. Unless you grow the flowers or are lucky enough to have them scattered freely in your garden, you may be unaware that they only bloom for a few weeks in the Spring. More than that, within their sweetness lies deadly poison.
And yet, Kate Middleton chose to carry a bouquet for her marriage to Prince William. What a lovely symbol, though we know Princess Katherine was not "white as snow." Nor are the flowers on the Lily of the Valley always white. For with the pink bloom that covers younger and older women's cheeks as they hear their lovers' names, so can the pink blossoms be seen in the rare variety.
The naming of the plant has underlying Romanticism. English folklore tells us lilies grew where a nobleman's blood was spilled in a great battle with a dragon. Other stories include the blossoms serving as charms used by witches, or as cups for fairies. In Greek mythology, Lily of the Valley represents Maia, the daughter of Atlas, whereas the Romans saw Maia as a nurturer, and named a month of the calendar that became, May (ehow.com; Wikipedia).
The plant's name has been borrowed for seemingly innocent literary titles, such as Balzac's Lily of the Valley or Pasternak's 1908 poem, Lilies of the Valley. It's also found in religious script such as a passage in the Bible, the Song of Solomon, 2:1, "I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys." A profane turnabout comes in a dystopian usage of this biblical reference in Margaret Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale (1985).
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (1953) refers to another line from the New Testament: "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin... " to offset the rampant commercialism bombarding the hero. A more benign allusion surfaces in the film Lilies of the Field (1963) with Sidney Poitier. Other spiritual citations of Lily of the Valley can also be seen in the Torah and the Qur'an, indicating that the flowering plant dates back to Old World Asia.
The fragrant blossoms' duality is never more appropriate than in Edith Warton's 1908 book, The Age of Innocence, where May carries Lily of the Valley, as she represents "innocence," attracting and repelling Archer. When he chooses May, Archer's sacrifices his true love. The choice eventually eats away at his soul, a subtle poison if there ever was one.
Writers across media have used the innocent-looking Lily of the Valley for lethal concoctions, e.g. Anne Perry or Maria Lang (Swedish name Dagmar Lange). Moreover, I'll admit I didn't watch the acclaimed, AMC cable television series, Breaking Bad (2008-2013), but when I learned the anti-hero, Walter White--chemist turned drug dealer--used Lily of the Valley berries as a weapon, I thought how apt. From dedicated schoolteacher to deadly scientist, few flowering plants could symbolize better that complex character.
When I return to what inspired me to write this blog, I remember the innocence: my mother's favorite fragrance; the Lily of the Valley which grows here on Cape Cod each Spring, only to disappear before I can pick them for my table. Then, I remember the loss.
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Romantic heroine, Lili, fights her duality in my latest book in the SHADOWWATER series:
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