The "ASPHODEL".. can anyone tell me more about this particular flower? And the types that thare are..

Question:I'd like to know the history also..
(What makes this specific flower so special?)

-Much appreciation-

xxx

Answers:
Asphodel (ăs'fədĕl') , name for plants of several genera of the family Lilaceae (lily family). The true asphodels belong to two small and very similar genera (Asphodelus and Asphodeline) of the Mediterranean region and India. The showy flower spike of the former is usually white; of the latter, yellow. Both are stemless, hardy herbs.Asphodels are hardy herbaceous perennials with narrow leaves and an elongated stem bearing a handsome spike flowers. Bog asphodel (Narthecium ossifragum) is a small herbaceous plant that grows in boggy places in Britain.
The asphodel (or king's spear) of the ancients, sacred to Persephone who was forcefully taken to the underworld by Hades (Pluto). Persephone is the daughter of Demeter (Ceres)
and associated with the fields of the dead, was Asphodeline lutea; the asphodel of the early French and English poets was a narcissus. The false asphodel is Tofieldia, represented in North America by T. glutinosa and a few other species. The turkeybeard (Xerophyllum asphodeloides) of the Atlantic coastal plains is also called mountain asphodel. Asphodels are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Liliales, family Liliaceae.

This plant has one of the earliest recorded histories of any species, having been given a detailed description by Hesiod circa 8th century BC. According to Lord Monboddo's reading of Homer, the asphodel is considered by Homer as "the best food of men" and Monboddo further notes that in Homer's Odyssey: "The heroes of Elysium, as living in a meadow covered with Asphodel". In the same letter of Monboddo to Hope, it is indicated that asphodel may be the same plant some Greeks called "scilla", which plant is described by Pliny, Galen and Dioscorides. It is also referenced in William Carlos Williams' poem, "Asphodel, that greeny flower", when he compares it to his love.
Victor Hugo, in his poem Booz Endormi, suggests that the perfume that Ruth wears when she approaches Boaz is that of the asphodel.

I hope this was useful,Take Care! :)