For this month?s discussion of material culture I want to contribute an example of a (presumed) Mormon giving Book-of-Mormon names to flowers. Daylilies are a common (at least the in US) landscaping flower that can be hybridized to create cultivars with a wide variety of colors and shapes. The American Hemerocallis Society?s Online Daylily Database has 75,000 entries, a few dozen of which come from RJ (Jack) Roberson. About thirty of Roberson?s cultivars have Mormon names. [1] 

Roberson?s company, American Daylily & Perennials, sells King Lamoni, Lavender Nephite, Mormon, Mormon Halo, Mormon Spider, Raspberry Lehi, and Righteous Remnant. [2] In a 2009 email to me, Jo Roberson (Jack?s wife and business partner) wrote that:

He [Jack] chose this theme in general due to our appreciation of the Book of Mormon. More specifically, when naming the individual varieties, he gave a lot of thought to the plant and how its characteristics seemed to ?fit? with someone or something in the Book of Mormon. [3]

I don?t have any academic analysis to offer at this point other than that I think there are probably interesting things to be said about the giving of religious-themed names to not-obviously-religious objects. [4] Below are images of some of Roberson?s daylilies. [5]

The names are, left to right, top to bottom [6]: Row 1: 1 Ammon, 2 Zarahemla, 3 Mormon Lemon Tart, 4 Lavender Nephite, 5 Mormon; Row 2: 1 Double Deseret, 2 Righteous Remnant, 3 King Lamoni, 4 Helaman, 5 Double Deseret; Row 3: 1 Helaman, 2 Ebony Lamanite, 3 Mormon Halo, 4 Raspberry Lehi, 5 Mormon Spider.

I believe it obligatory in a post like this to quote Ned Desaules [7]:

Je ne crois pas que la cultivation des fleurs est une chose inutile. Par s?il faut que Sion fleurisse comme la rose, il faut bien qu?il y aient des fleurs.

I do not think that the cultivation of flowers is a useless thing, because if Zion is going to blossom as the rose, there must needs be flowers.