Summary:

The Cruciform Lily is a rather tall and proud plant, rising in droves from the sides of clear-water springs high within the mountains, bright pink and white petals seemingly glimmering in the light of the sun. The Cruciform Lily is a flower that is often used at funerals and other dark and dreary processions due to the strange calming and relaxing effect that the petals’ smell seems to produce. The female variants of the plant bear a cross-shaped pistil, nestled within the neck of the petals, and such is where the Cruciform Lily gains its name.

Basic Description:
The Cruciform Lily possesses a sturdy and almost wood-like stem that grows to a typical height of eight to twelve inches, possessing a few reed-like leaves that extend gracefully from the edges of the stem, upwards towards the cusp of the flowering bodies. Perched flamboyantly at the tops of the stems, the flowering bodies typically number in ones or threes, and very rarely fives; yet strangely, the plant never flowers in even numbers. A milky white, streaked with a vibrant pinkish hue along the veins of the petals, the Cruciform Lily is a pleasant bloom set amongst the rocks and vales of mountain springs. As the name suggests, the female pistil is shaped in a generally cross-shaped form, though the male stamen is simply a narrow stalk with a bulbous pollen appendage.

Rarity: Uncommon

Location:
The Cruciform Lily is most often found on the border of streams that cascade down the sides of mountains, or surrounding high altitude lakes and ponds that are fed by pure water from natural springs and aquifer wells. The nature of the plant seems to require incredibly clean groundwater and a dry, loose soil high in mineral content. Florists speak of the challenges of transplanting Cruciform Lilies, claiming that they rarely take root at any altitude below where the lilies were gathered. As with most of nature, the most beautiful place for it to remain is where it was born.

Properties:

• Possesses a strong, woody stem.
  
• Typically has one to three, and occasionally five flower blooms.
  
• The flower’s scent has a mild calming effect on those around it.
  
• Is colored predominantly white, with streaks and dots of vibrant pink.
  
• Grows only by the sides of high-altitude spring-fed water sources.
  
• Is incredibly difficult to transplant or grow anew at lower altitudes, and will not take root unless the water source is clean and flowing.
  

Special Properties:

• Crushing and refining of the Cruciform Lily petals may yield a substance prone to reducing the heart rate of a patient.
  
• Eating the petals or steeping them in a tea provides minor alleviants towards symptoms of panic, shock, and anxiety.