The Cahaba Lilies of Alabama

The Cahaba Lily ((Hymenocallis coronaria) Photographed by Danny Smith on 15 May 2020

We made our annual friends and family pilgrimage to the iconic and beautiful Cahaba Lilies this morning in the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge. It is always neat to take people with us who have never seen them before. The Cahaba lily (Hymenocallis coronaria) is a type of spiderlily with three-inch-wide white flowers. It requires swift-flowing water over rocky shoals. River currents wedge the seeds and bulbs into crevices. Each fragrant flower blossom opens overnight and lasts for one day. They are visited and possibly pollinated by the plebeian sphinx moth, and the pipevine swallowtail butterfly. We traveled by canoe and kayak to Hargrove Shoals to see the largest stand of this flower in the world. It is an amazing place to visit.

With the economic hardships and job losses many are facing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is comforting to contemplate the following:

“Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.”

Luke 12:27-31

The Cahaba Lilies photographed by Danny Smith 15 May 2020