Paradisea liliastrum (St Bruno’s lily)
The common name St Bruno’s lily refers to the founder of the Carthusian order of monks, and its medicinal properties have been known for a millennium.
Species Information
- Scientific Name: Paradisea liliastrum (L.) Bertol.
- Common name(s): St Bruno’s lily
- Synonym(s): Phalangium liliastrum (L.) Brot., Czackia liliastrum (L.) Andrz., Liliastrum album Link, Pleisolirion liliastrum (L.) Raf.
- Conservation Status: Not evaluated according to IUCN Red List criteria.
- Habitat: Subalpine meadows and rocky slopes
- Key Uses: Ornamental, medicinal.
- Known hazards: None known.
Taxonomy
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Lilianae
- Order: Asparagales
- Family: Asparagaceae – Agavoideae
- Genus: Paradisea
About this species
Paradisea liliastrum is an elegant species, native to the alpine meadows of southern Europe. The common name, St Bruno’s lily, refers to the 11th century founder of the Carthusian order of monks, whose motherhouse was in the French Alps, where this plant can be found.
Paradisea liliastrum was listed in AD 512 by the Greek Dioscorides in his book, De Materia Medica, for its supposed medicinal properties. It has been grown in English gardens for many years. It was one of the plants ordered from Brussels by the English naturalist John Tradescant the elder, for the gardens of Hatfield House in 1610.
Geography & Distribution
Paradisea liliastrum is found in the mountain ranges of the Alps, Jura, Pyrenees and Apennines, from Spain to Italy and Yugoslavia, at elevations of 1,000–2,300 m.
Description
This herbaceous perennial has a rhizomatous rootstock that spreads slowly to form a small clump. Its leaves are narrow and greyish-green. The flowers are white and trumpet-shaped, each 5 cm long with bright yellow stamens, and are produced in June and July in racemes on erect stems, 60 cm high above the foliage. The seeds are formed in an ovate capsule.
A larger-flowered form of this species, known as ‘major’, is available commercially.
Illustration from Curtis's Botanical Magazine
Hand-coloured engraving of Paradisea liliastrum by Sydenham Edwards (1795), taken from Curtis's Botanical Magazine (Image: RBG Kew)
Curtis’s Botanical Magazine (Editor: Martyn Rix) provides an international forum of particular interest to botanists and horticulturists, plant ecologists and those with a special interest in botanical illustration.
Now well over two hundred years old, the Magazine is the longest running botanical periodical featuring colour illustrations of plants. Each four-part volume contains 24 plant portraits reproduced from watercolour originals by leading international botanical artists. Detailed but accessible articles combine horticultural and botanical information, history, conservation and economic uses of the plants described.
Published for the Royal Botanic Gardens, Wiley-Kew by Blackwell Publishing.
See the Wiley-Blackwell Subscription Information page for rates (for both print and online).
Uses
Paradisea liliastrum is grown as an ornamental. It received an Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society in 1993. Historically, St Bruno’s lily was used medicinally. There are reports that it is still occasionally collected from alpine meadows in the Pyrenees for use in folk medicine.
Cultivation
Paradisea liliastrum grows best in full sun, in rich, peaty soil, with ample moisture in summer. Propagation is by seed or division of clumps.
It is a beautiful, summer-flowering plant, suitable for rock gardens and herbaceous borders, but it is not commonly grown.
References and credits
Leith-Ross, P. (1998). The John Tradescants: Gardeners to the Rose and Lily Queen. Peter Owen Publishers, London.
Mathew, B. (1981). Plant awards, 1980-1981. Quarterly Bulletin of the Alpine Garden Society. 49: 354-355.
Phillips, R. & Rix, M. (1991). Perennials. Pan Books, London.
Rigat, M., Bonet, M.Á., Garcia, S., Garnatje, T. & Vallès, J. (2007). Studies on pharmaceutical ethnobotany in the high river Ter valley (Pyrenees, Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula). Journal of Ethnopharmacology 113(2): 267-277.
Stearn, W.T. (1950). A note on Paradisea, Diuranthera and Notholirion. Kew Bulletin 5(3): 419-422.
The Plant List (2010). Paradisea liliastrum. http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-283940 (accessed 22 July 2011).
World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (2010). Paradisea liliastrum. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet at: http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=283940 (accessed 22 July 2011).
Kew Science Editor: Martyn Rix
Kew contributors: Steve Davis (Sustainable Uses Group)
Copyediting: Malin Rivers
While every effort has been taken to ensure that the information contained in these pages is reliable and complete, the notes on hazards, edibility and suchlike included here are recorded information and do not constitute recommendations. No responsibility will be taken for readers’ own actions. Full website terms and conditions.
- Print friendly
- Send to a friend
-
Send to a friend Close
- Spread the word
-
Spread the word Close
- Blog this
- Donate
Follow Kew
Keep up to date with events and news from Kew
Fact Box
Acacia torrei
Restricted to central Mozambique, Acacia torrei was known from only three herbarium specimens collected in the 1940s, until further collections were made by Kew botanists in 2006.
Related Tags
- discovered
- around the world
- sustainable
- the UK
- at risk
- challenging
- together
- powerful
- ground breaking
- ancient
- ornamental
- of use
- english garden
- innovative
- rich
- medicinal
- weed
- edible
- tasty
- adventurous
- endangered
- rainforest
- uncharted
- irreplaceable
- needs help
- common
- flowering
- wild
- amazing
- beautiful
- interesting
- for kids
- inspiring
- passionate
- new
- newly discovered
- creative
- imaginative
- exotic
- fun
- popular
- extraordinary
- english heritage
- historical
- romantic
- rare
- valuable
- ancient
- scarce
- massive
- exploited
- fragile
- urgent
- useful
- rare
- active
- landscapes
- collectable
- unusual
- old
- Kew overseas
- high
- royal
- donate
- for family
- gifts that help
- money saving
- popular
- remember
- save
- give money
- in urgent need
- sponsor
- Kew at home
- collections
- surveying
- wet tropics
- systematics
- chemistry
- diversity
- verge of extinction
- big
- useful plants
- mysterious
- give time
- treasures
- events
- Africa
- conserving
- fieldwork
- partnerships
- successes
- pretty
- fragrant
- wet
- dangerous
- high up
- essential
- drylands
- spiky
- brand new
- hot
- friends & family
- dry
- hot spot
- garden plants
- woodland
- business
- South East Asia
Plant & Fungi blogs from Kew
The cool blue seeds of the Malagasy traveller’s tree
by: Wolfgang Stuppy, Millennium Seed Bank blog 06 Mar 2012
Truly blue seeds are about as rare as hens’ teeth. In the first of his ‘Seed of the Month’ series, Millennium Seed Bank seed morphologist, Wolfgang Stuppy, explains why.
- 29 likes
- 4 comments
Studying yams in Madagascar
by: Tim Harris, Herbarium blog 27 Jan 2012
Kew and Feedback Madagascar are collaborating to look at the preferences for different species of edible yam in Madagascan rural communities. Find out about the latest research being undertaken as part of Kew's work in Madagascar.
- 9 likes
- 0 comments
Conservators care for tapa cloth at Kew
by: Daniel Barter & Cristina Liria, Economic Botany blog 15 Aug 2011
Two conservation students from Camberwell College of Arts have spent three weeks surveying barkcloth specimens from the Pacific.
- 5 likes
- 0 comments
Extinct to secure: how we saved Ascension’s endemic parsley fern
by: Colin Clubbe, UK Overseas Territories team blog 23 Dec 2010
In the space of 17 months, the status of the tiny Ascension Island parsley fern (Anogramma ascensionis) has gone from 'thought extinct' to 'secure' because of the amazing collaborative efforts of a small group of very dedicated people.
- 29 likes
- 1 comment
The cool blue seeds of the Malagasy traveller’s tree
by: Wolfgang Stuppy, Millennium Seed Bank blog 06 Mar 2012
Truly blue seeds are about as rare as hens’ teeth. In the first of his ‘Seed of the Month’ series, Millennium Seed Bank seed morphologist, Wolfgang Stuppy, explains why.
- 29 likes
- 4 comments
From Chelsea to Mount Fuji, the legacy of Veitch Nurseries
by: Virginia Mills, Library, Art and Archives blog 20 May 2011
Harry Veitch brought the RHS flower show to Chelsea. His brother brought Japanese flora to Europe. Find out more about the Veitch's from Kew's Directors' Correspondence collection.
- 19 likes
- 1 comment
