Amaryllis indoors. Plants of the genus "Amaryllis" are known as belladonna lily, Jersey lily, naked lady, amarillo, Easter lily in Southern Australia or, in South Africa, March lily due to its propensity to flower around March. This is one of numerous genera with the common name "lily" due to their flower shape and growth habit. However, they are only distantly related to the true lily, "Lilium". In the Victorian Language of Flowers (see Plant symbolism), amaryllis means "pride". "Amaryllis" is a bulbous plant, with each bulb being in diameter. It has several strap-shaped, green leaves, long and broad, arranged in two
Ornamental bulbous plant The Minoans of Crete grew and traded saffron (either the wild species "Crocus cartwrightianus" or the cultivated "Crocus sativus"). The plant is depicted in paintings from around 1550 BC. Saffron consists of the dried stigmas of the flowers, and is used as a spice and also as a dye. Some bulbous plants were used in medicine in classical times; one example is the sea squill ("Drimia maritima") which grows from a true bulb. Wall paintings dated to around 1700–1600 BC from Minoan Akrotiri provide some of the earliest evidence for the apparently ornamental use of bulbous plants. Some of the