It is doubtful whether we shall ever know for certain which flower was referred to by Christ as “the lily of the fields.” Why the scarlet _Martagon_ should have borne the honour for so long is difficult to see. As far as we have been able to discover, this lily does not grow in Palestine, and though of course we cannot be certain that it did not inhabit the Holy Land in the time of Christ, it is very unlikely that it did, for the lily of Chalcedony knows how to take care of itself, and it is unlikely that it would have become exterminated.
We have no real reason for supposing that the lily of the fields was a true lily—that is, a member of the genus _lilium_. Even in England at the present day we call a host of liliaceous plants “lilies,” and in the East they are very lax in floral nomenclature.
That the plant referred to was one of superior beauty is probable, but even the meanest flower would answer to the description that “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
It is commonly held now that the plant referred to was either the yellow star-lily (_Amaryllis Lutea_) or else an anemone. But it may well be that our Saviour meant no special blossom, but by “the lily of the field” He intended any flower to be taken.
Before it became the fashion to “bed out” the gardens of the wealthy, the scarlet _Martagon_ graced alike the palaces of the rich and the cottages of the poor. Throughout England this magnificent lily was one of the commonest of garden flowers. But when the finest gardens were turned into puzzle pictures, manufactured out of geraniums, blue lobelias and yellow calceolarias, all the fine old garden plants were rooted up and destroyed, and many plants ceased to know England as their home.
How thankful we all are that the formal garden has left us! Now it is considered in its true light, as a vulgar waste of soil.
We have returned to the old-fashioned garden, but alas! we cannot make old gardens at a day’s notice. We have reinstated our old herbaceous plants, and now we are attempting to place the lily of the fields in its old position, as queen of the flower-bed.
Unfortunately this lily is difficult to establish, though when once it is established it gives no trouble and will grow for centuries. But we do not often see it now in gardens, and it is doubtful if it will ever again become a constant inhabitant of every garden, as it was of old.