White ginger lily

A fragrant white flower resembling a butterfly – during the wars of independence, Cuban women smuggled secret messages inside it.

A stately perennial of the ginger family, growing to 1.5–2 m, with fleshy rhizomes and long, lance-shaped leaves. At the tips of its stems it produces dense spikes of snow-white, intensely fragrant flowers whose shape resembles a butterfly in flight – hence its Spanish name, “mariposa”. It comes from the Himalayas and South-East Asia, but in Cuba it has long since gone wild, lining the banks of streams and damp ditches. In many warm countries it is regarded as an invasive species.

Significance in the country

The mariposa became the national flower because of its role in the 19th-century wars of independence: women wore it in their hair as a symbol of purity and rebellion, and carried messages for the insurgents hidden in its flower heads. It is still a favourite flower for wedding bouquets.

Where it grows

Naturalised throughout the country along streams, in ditches and damp valleys, especially in the Escambray Mountains, the Sierra Maestra and Pinar del Río; grown in gardens.

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