Lilium: a curiosity

[Véronique Macrelle]

Lilium: a curiosity
Lilium henryi stands alone in my garden and never produces seeds: I imagine that it is not self-pollinating.
However, this year, out of the thirty or so flowers, one formed a pod... which kept on ripening.
it never really ripened, in fact, but when the stem turned brown, i dissected it:
a large number of empty seeds, and other things, flat, thick and fat, without a solid seed coat: it seems to be more bulbils than seeds after all.
Is it trying to propagate vegetatively out of spite?

[Gail]

Probably yes, but maybe out of desperation rather than spite?
Many in the tiger lily group produce bulbils at leaf axils so the genetic potential is there...
Have you potted them up to see what happens?

[Neil J]

I think Gail is on the right track. Something is odd, but there could be many reasons. There is so much in nature that we don't always understand.
Do try to grow them on. They look to have that potential. As they mature, observe carefully for any variations from the parent.
This may hold clues as to what has happened.

[Véronique Macrelle]

yes, I planted them straight away without letting them dry out, 2 cm deep.
I imagine they'll need a cold season to get going, if they grow at all...

[Rick R.]

Sorry for the late reply.   Yes, a lot of weird things can happen with all the environmental  changes due to climate change.  As you have probably already discovered, nearly all Lilium species are not self-pollinating, including L. henryi.  Some species can produce apomictic seed on occasion, but I’ve never heard of any reports of L. henryi doing it.  I think it is more likely that either: (1) a butterfly traveled from another L. henryi or Aurelian lily (that would have L. henryi parentage) and brought its pollen to your plant, or (2) the climate change triggered apomixis.

The pic you show is exactly what I expect to see in an unopened, developing pod.  Seeds that are normally flat like paper when dry are much much bigger and fatter inside the pod.  Even at that stage, if you know what to look for, you would be able to find embryos in viable seed.  I can’t tell from the pic, but even well pollinated flowers will produce lots of non-viable chaff. 

The seed is very easily damaged at that stage, hopefully some are viable.  But, I think I would have planted them immediately, too.  I would have planted them a cm deep or less, but 2 cm should be ok.  L. henryi seed does not need a cold treatment, but it won't hurt, unless there is a rot problem.  Last year I planted two forms of L. henryi (dry seed) in early June, and they came up a month to a month and a half later.  Good Luck!

[Véronique Macrelle]

thank you for these clear explanations Rick!
I actually had an African Queen lily which must have flowered simultaneously and a Lilium leictlinii which was due to finish flowering 20 m away. If it's a hybrid, that's the last straw, given the lack of insects this year! Otherwise, my other species are earlier than Henryi.

I wouldn't have thought that immature seeds could be so ‘fat’. I'm still curious to see whether these immature seeds will germinate...
I would much prefer the least likely theory: apomixis so as not to inherit hybrids.