Sapphire Blue Cuban Lilies – scilla peruviana | Beautiful Flower Pictures Blog

I recently photographed some amazing blue and purple flowers at a local garden. According to the label, they are Sapphire Blue Cuban Lilies (scilla peruviana), which surprised me since they didn’t have the structure that I tend to think of when I see a lily. It turns out they aren’t members of the lily family at all – they are members of the Asparagaceae family.

Cuban Lilies are native to the Western Mediterranean – Italy, Spain and North Africa. Which got me wondering – why is the botanical name peruviana and the common name cuban – if they are native to Europe???? It turns out, they were originally thought to be Hyacinths – so named Hyacinthus stellatus peruanus by Carolus Clusius. Apparently the bulbs may have been transported on a ship named Peru and Clusius thought they were from Peru. When Linneaus recognized them scilla – the Peru part stayed. So that explains the Peru in the botanical name.

But so far – I haven’t found anything to explain the Cuban in the common name! Does anyone know where that came from?

Here are some of my photos of these enchanting flowers.