Lily of the Valley: Tiny Flowers in Retrospect

Depending on who’s talking and what they’re talking about, lily of the valley is a woodland flower that likes shade, a 19th century hymn, a French novel, or something else.¹

I’m not going to be talking about hymns or novels. Not today, anyway.

There’s a whole mess of symbolism hanging around these little white flowers, too. Mostly involving humility, happiness and good stuff like that. Which strikes me as odd, since the wildflowers are distinctly poisonous.² On the other hand, they do — I gather — smell nice.

I’m not going to talk about that, either. Mostly because the lily of the valley’s sprays of tiny white flowers are, for me, symbolic of a house I grew up in. Along with a rhubarb patch. And clothes lines. Among other things.

Wildflower, Weed: Take Your Pick

The first house I remember living in, 818, had room on its north side for a driveway, with about a foot left over next to the house.

Although my parents weren’t particularly enthusiastic gardeners, that foot-wide patch of dirt sported a lush green cover and lovely little white flowers every year. I liked the green, and I really liked those tiny white bells. I remember asking my folks about them, and learning that they’re ‘weeds’. Or not particularly desirable, at any rate.

Why they were undesirable, that’s something I wasn’t told.

A Weed by Any Other Name Would Still Look Nice

That remained one of many puzzles from my formative years: until I looked up lily of the valley, week before last.

Some tightly-wound resources identified lily of the valley as an invasive species. Which, technically, I suppose it is. Although it’s not even close to being in the kudzu class.³

Convallaria majalis, that’s lily of the valley’s binomial/Linnaean/Latin moniker, is supposed to be in Europe and parts of Asia.

Time was when we had, officially, varieties of Convallaria majalis:

• Convallaria majalis var. majalis
  • European/Asian lily of the valley
• Convallaria majalis var. keiskei
  • Japanese lily of the valley
• Convallaria majalis var. montana
  • Appalachian lily of the valley

Now they’re seen as three entirely different species:

• Convallaria majalis
  • European/Asian lily of the valley
• Convallaria keiskei
  • Japanese lily of the valley
• Convallaria pseudomajalis
  • Appalachian lily of the valley

Either way, those tiny white flowers look like lily of the valley to me, so that’s what I’ll call them. And I’ll keep remembering them as a delightful sight on the north side of 818, even though they don’t, officially, belong in central North America.

More Memories, and Making Sense of “Humility”

When I started writing this, I couldn’t quite remember what those little white flowers were called.

I asked my wife — always a good idea, whatever the circumstances — she thought a moment, then said “lily of the valley?”

That sounded right, so I did a little looking around online, and eventually I found Rosendahl’s photo. Who Rosendahl is, that I don’t know.

I could go on — and on, and on — about 818, life without a sense of smell, and why humility isn’t all about smart folks trying to believe they’re not.

But I won’t. I’m taking it easy this week.

Besides, I’ve talked about that before:

• “Matchstick Rockets in the Basement” (November 29, 2025)
  • Technically Flammable, But Our Safest Option
• “Remembering a House I Grew Up in, and Gratitude” (November 22, 2025)
  • One House, Three Kitchens
    • The Basement and a Clothes Chute
    • Noisy Switches and Quiet Light Bulbs
    • The Back Yard, a Landing, and an Experience
• “Odors, Experiences, and a Life Without Scent” (March 15, 2025)
  • Living in a Mostly-Scentless World
    • Getting Technical
    • Leaves, Genes, and Anesthetic
• “Marlowe’s Faustus: Chorus, Soliloquies and Film Noir” (April 18, 2021)
  • Self-Esteem, Within Reason (or, Humility isn’t Being Delusional 😉 )

¹ Lots and lots of lilies of the valley:

• Wikipedia
  • Convallaria (a genus of flowering plants: lily of the valley)
  • Le Lys dans la vallée (a French novel)
  • Lily of the Valley (disambiguation)
  • Lilies of the Valley (Fabergé egg)
  • Lily of the Valley
  • The Lily of the Valley (a 19th century hymn)

² Lovely, fragrant, lethal:

• Wikipedia
  • Cardiac glycoside
  • Convallamarin (a glycoside)
  • Convallarin (a glycoside)
  • Convallatoxin (a glycoside)
  • Lily of the valley
    • Chemistry
      • Toxicology
• Lily of the Valley
  Guide to Poisonous Plants, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University
• Lily of the valley poisoning
  Medical Encyclopedia, Medline Plus, National Library of Medicine, NIH (National Institutes of Health)

³ It seemed like a good idea at the time:

• Wikipedia
  • Kudzu in the United States (ornamental plant, high-protein cattle feed….)
  • Cane toad (not effective pest control before, but maybe this time….)