TO BE OR NOT TO BE A LILY FLOWER

This post is about two well-known flowers that have been referred to (again and again!) as supposedly lily flowers, but they NOT! Once again, here is proof that serious misnomers abound in the scientific world. 

                             CALLA “LILY” [is not a lily!]

Classification: 

Kingdom Plantae

Clades (3 of them)

Order Alismatales

Family Araceae

Genus Zantedeschia

Species aethiopica 

The common name “calla” is derived from the Greek word, “kallos,” meaning beauty. Graceful and elegant trumpet-shaped, the bright-white blooms thrive in both full sun and partial shade. They are easy to grow and maintain, and they bloom in late March and early April in the northern Los Angeles area. These beautiful (“eye-catching”) flowers grow best in groups. They prefer shaded areas.

Calla flowers are perennial (last more than one year), and their plant can be up to 48 inches in height. The yellow spike in the middle of the  “flower” (see Figure 2) is called (in botanical terms) the spadix. That it is where a group of tiny flowers cluster together (e.g., = an inflorescence). The main outside petal of the callas flower “wraps around” and protects these inner tiny flowers. Typically callas are bright white, but horticulturists can breed various colors: yellow, red, pink, orange, black, or purple. There can be a mixture of two separate colors, for example, patches of purple and white.

Calla flowers are native to southern Africa. They do well in cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe, northern Asia, Alaska, Canada, and the northeastern United States (Wikipedia, 2025). I could not detect information about their geologic age range. This is due, I suspect, because of the considerable confusion concerning their classification.

                            Figure 1. Calla from my backyard in

                   northern Los Angeles County, Southern California.

                    Figure 2. A cluster of calla from my backyard.

                  The blooms are each about three inches in width.

                          Figure 3. A enlargement of the previous

                      figure, showing a calla and its central spadix.

THE FORTNIGHT “LILY”  [also is not a lily!]

 

This flower belongs to the Iris family. It has a very distinctive flower with three pale-yellow petals and three dark purple (to black) spots. It is often used in public gardens and for landscaping. In sum, it is a memorable flower and is easily recognizable. Its blooms last for about two weeks, thus the name “fortnight.” It is a perennial flower. 

Dietes bicolor (shown below) is native to South Africa but is now widespread throughout the world in warm-temperature regions. It requires full to partial sun and needs at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight.

Genus Dietes is comprised of six species. This flower likes wet conditions, such as along ponds or canals. It is frost-hardy, drought resistant, and easy to care for. It blooms in spring and summer. 

Figure 4. 

Figure 5

Figures 4 and 5. Two specimens of Dietes bicolor (each specimen is 1 3/4 inches long) from northern Los Angeles County, southern California. 

   Classification

Order Asparagales

Family Iridaceae

Genus Dietes

Type species D. bicolor

Dietes bicolor (shown above) is a flower native to South Africa but is now widespread throughout the world in warm-temperature regions.

It requires full to partial sun and needs at least 6-8 hours of direct sunlight. It belongs to genus Dietes, which has six species. This flower likes wet conditions, such as along ponds or canals. It is frost-hardy, drought resistant, and easy to care for. It blooms in spring and summer (Wikipedia, 2025). 

Reference 

Wikipedia, 2025 

note: NO ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE (A.I.) WAS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS BLOG POST.