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A [[variety (biology)|variety]] of it, ''L. longiflorum'' var. ''eximium'', native to the [[Ryukyu Islands]], is taller and more vigorous. It is extensively cultivated for [[cut flowers]]. It has irregular blooming periods in nature, and this is exploited in cultivation, allowing it to be forced for flowering at particular periods, such as [[Easter]]. However, it can be induced to flower over a much wider period. This variety is sometimes called the ''Bermuda lily'' because it has been much cultivated in [[Economy of Bermuda#Agriculture|Bermuda]].
[[File:Takasagoyuri 06z1458csv.jpg|thumb]]
One hundred percent of all Easter lily bulbs used in the United States and Canada are grown on coastal bottom lands in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. Production of Easter lily bulbs has been controversial because pesticides used to grow the lilies are polluting streams that feed the estuary of the Smith River, California's healthiest and most important river for salmon and steelhead. In 2013 the California North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board found "acute (and) chronic reproductive toxicity" in three of the four primary creeks that feed the Smith River estuary. One local group, [http://siskiyouland.org/ Siskiyou Land Conservancy], has been working since 2004 to reduce pesticide use in the lower Smith River. Research by Siskiyou Land Conservancy found that Easter lily growers use 300,000 pounds annually of highly toxic pesticides. Two of these pesticides — metam sodium and 1,3-dichloropropene, both carcinogens and both deadly to aquatic species — are used in pounds-per-acre amounts that rival any other region of California.
== Use in Eastertide ==
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