Асфодель: Гүлдері мен тарихы

Flowering genus in family Asphodelaceae

Automatic taxobox
| taxon = Asphodelus
| image = Asphodelus albus0. jpg
| image caption = White asphodel (Asphodelus albus)
| authority = L.
| synonyms ref= that was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The genus was formerly included in the lily family (Liliaceae). The genus is native to temperate Europe, the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent, and some species have been introduced to, and are now naturalized in, other places such as New Zealand, Australia, Mexico and southwestern United States. Many asphodels are popular garden plants, which grow in well drained soils with abundant natural light.

The plants are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow tufted radical leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike of white or yellow flowers. Asphodelus albus and A. fistulosus have white flowers and grow from high; A. ramosus is a larger plant, the large white flowers of which have a reddish brown line in the middle of each segment.

The genus name is derived from the Greek ἀσφόδελος asphodelos.

In Greek legend the asphodel is one of the most famous of the plants connected with the dead and the underworld. Homer describes it as covering the great meadow , the haunt of the dead. It was planted on graves, and is often connected with Persephone, who appears crowned with a garland of asphodels. Its general connection with death is due no doubt to the greyish colour of its leaves and its yellowish flowers, which suggest the gloom of the underworld and the pallor of death. The roots were eaten by the poorer Greeks; hence such food was thought good enough for the shades. The asphodel was also supposed to be a remedy for venomous snake bites and a specific against sorcery; it was fatal to mice, but preserved pigs from disease. The Libyan nomads made their huts of asphodel stalks.