Columbia Lily, Lilium Columbianum

Day 250: Following shortly behind Skunk Cabbage in her personal compendium, Columbia Lily was my mother's second favourite flower. There was only one problem: her father had come from the midwest where another similar Lilium was called "Turk's Cap." Consequently, my mother called them Turk's Caps, and by association, I came to call them Turk's Caps as well.

I was in my mid-twenties when I discovered that my mother's colloquial nomenclature was incorrect, and my repeated attempts to remedy her vocabulary were blithely ignored. Grandpa had called them Turk's Caps, and that was good enough for her. On the flip side, I was rather embarrassed that I had played a role in distributing her misinformation to friends, but the only recourse available to me was to stop using the term myself. When something has been ingrained from childhood, this is no easy task! Every year when the Columbia Lilies' freckled faces first pop up along the roadside, I say, "Oh, the Turk's Caps are out!" and then remind myself that mother doesn't always know best.