Trumpet Lily
Trumpet Lily
Lily Stamen
Lilium longiflorum
Also called Easter Lilies and White Trumpet Lilies, but they can vary in color. My identification could be far off (oh these many types of lilies really confuse me!)- there are so many cultivars and hybrids of lily. But I’m feeling like takin’ a guess! These lilies live at the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh NC.
Lilies are flowering bulbs that are commonly used for their showy display. The flowers above that I think are trumpet lilies/aurelian lilies (including the Easter lily) can have their blooming manipulated for seasonal sales… hence the name Easter lilies.
But! Oh my do I love edible plants that you wouldn’t at least first think as edible! The bulb of the lily is edible and though some species have a bitter taste, others are comparable to potatoes and are grown and used widely as a luxury health food in China. They are especially popular in summer where it’s thought that dried lily bulbs help to lower internal temperature.
The plural is either ’stamens’ (which I think sounds kind of awkward and bad) or ’stamina’ (which I think sounds so good I might ask my friends if they want to whip out and compare our ’stamina’ next time we’re drinking). Anyway, there’s more than one in your picture.