Stargazer Lily Pollen

The Stargaz­er Lily (Lil­i­um ori­en­tal­is)  is a famous, high­ly fra­grant lily known for its vibrant pink-and-white upward-fac­ing blooms with small pur­ple freck­les on its petals. It has a love­ly scent but it can some­times over­whelm a room so use them spar­ing­ly and nev­er put them into a din­ing cen­ter­piece as their scent may inter­fere with the din­ing experience.

Lilies pro­duce a pow­dery orange pollen that can stain coun­ter­tops, linens and clothes. To pre­vent the stain­ing of orange pollen on you or your clothes, wrap a tis­sue around the ends of the “pollen sticks”(anthers) and slide them right off. If they do dust you, use tape and tap the area, instead of try­ing to wipe it off.

Accord­ing to an arti­cle in the LA Times on June 26, 2015, cats res­cued from shel­ters are hired for rodent patrol at the Los Ange­les Flower Dis­trict. This cuts down on loss of flow­ers by nib­bling rodents.

Note to cat par­ents: Sev­er­al types of lilies can cause renal fail­ure and some­time death if ingest­ed by cats. Stud­ies from Utah State Uni­ver­si­ty show a tox­ic con­nec­tion between cats and the Lil­i­um gen­era fam­i­ly, which includes the East­er lily, tiger lily, Rubrum lily, Japan­ese show lily and daylilies. So, keep the Stargaz­er Lily away from your pet kit­ty! For a full list of cat-friend­­ly and cat-foe flow­ers and plants, read the ASPCA flower tox­ic list.