Rarely has such flowery language been used at Stormont. Depending on which side of the political fence you were standing on yesterday, the humble Easter lily was a fragrant flower or a poisonous plant that should strike fear in the hearts of right-thinking unionists, not to mention their household pets.
The argument - whether a symbol of remembrance for republican dead should be put on show at Stormont over Easter - was deadly serious in a place where poppies and flags can spark intense debate.
But at times the exchanges at the emergency meeting where unionists tried, unsuccessfully, to reverse an Assembly Commission vote to display the flower were as farcical as they were horticultural.
Poor old lilium longiform, to give the beleaguered bloom its scientific name. According to the UUP's Billy Armstrong, it was interesting that Sinn Fein should want the flower as an emblem for those who died in 1916 and for the republican cause since then. Interesting because according to his research the plant could kill.
The Mid-Ulster MLA told the Assembly that if a cat or dog ate the leaves it would upset the stomach, causing depression and death. Why anyone would want such a deadly plant as a symbol was beyond him.
The Alliance leader, Sean Neeson, eulogised the flower. "It symbolises the most important date in the Christian calendar . . . The Easter lily has been hijacked by republicans. It is associated with the supreme sacrifice of Christ on the cross," he said, speaking in support of the lily display. Beauty or no, those on the unionist side displayed deep-rooted feelings against all that Sinn Fein says the white flower represents. Proposing the motion to reverse the vote, the DUP's Jim Wells described it as "a floral display dedicated to the memory of the terrorists who tortured this community for 30 years".
The issue has been germinating since last November when Sinn Fein implied that the Easter lily should gain parity of esteem with the poppy.
However, comparisons with the poppy, which commemorates the millions who died in the two World Wars, were swiftly mown down by unionists who were for once united in every sense of the word. Unionism's only dissenting voice, the PUP leader David Irvine, was nicknamed "Easter lily-livered Irvine" by the DUP's Ian Paisley jnr.
Mr Wells said the lily was "a front for more sinister activities" while the poppy commemorated "the men who died in the ditches".
Much of the unionist derision was reserved for the Alliance MLA, Eileen Bell, who had used a block vote of smaller unionist parties to vote in favour of the lily when the commission decided the issue last week. The SDLP's Alban Maginness was among several pro-lily Assembly members to express dismay that the debate was taking place at all. "People outside this chamber are wondering what kind of lunacy has descended that we have to urgently reconvene this Assembly over a bowl of lilies," he said.
While unsuccessful in their bid to deflower Stormont, the unionists made their point forcefully. Meanwhile, the office of the commission set about ordering two bunches of Easter lilies to be displayed prominently in the Great Hall at Stormont.
They will remain there over the Easter recess. Stormont caretakers would do well to listen to the words of Shakespeare, originator of the lily-livered insult. He said lilies that fester "smell far worse than weeds". Far sweeter, as Sinn Fein will contest, is the smell of success.