Hemerocallis

[Diane Clement]

Diane,  yours looks to be H. citrina, a very fragrant nocturnal, but the similar H. altissima is also possible.  They are hard to seperate with a foto.  They are closely related.
And, yes, the flowers are quite edible and delicious in a salad.  The dried buds are often used in stir-fry and the fresh flowers have a pleasent acid note. 

Thanks for this, Jamie.  I've just gone out for a nocturnal sniff, but the flowers are closed.  So I didn't get a whiff at all   

[Regelian]

For those of you wishing to learn more about the currently acknowledged species, go to this site.  It is the best reference available, imho.

http://www.hemerocallis-species.com/

I personally grow only a few species, which I use for hybridizing.  They are an interesting way to add vigour to the hybrid gene pool, but the other side of the coin is that they tend to revert the off-spring to a more wild form.  One can only dip into the species gene pool on rare occaisions.

There is currently a great deal of misinformation and falsly identified 'species' in circulation.  With fresh collections coming in from China, we all hoped for more clarity, but this hasn't been the case.  Even plants from Botanical gardens have proved to be old cultivars only distantly related to true species.  Then there is the old discussion as to what actually constitutes a species. 

One item I would like to clear up is the fragrance and nocturnal habits of certain species.  In the litereature, species such as H. citrina and H. altissima, along with the disputed entity of H. vespertina, are listed as fully nocturnal, which is simply not the case.  Yes, they open their flowers at dusk, but not all clones close their flowers at dawn.  Many continue to stay fresh through the next day, but rarely survive through a hot afternoon.  Their fragrance is apparent during the entire time, not just at night.  When hybridized to diurnal species, the off-spring may be nocturnal, diurnal or extended bloomers (combination with flowers remaining fresh over 18 hours, sometimes to 48 hours).

One fo the best way to distinguish species, other than general morphology, is their bloom season.  As I mentioned before, H. citrina and H. altissima are difficult to seperate, being very similar.  H. citrina blooms in mid-Summer, is about 140cm tall, widely branched and carries about 60 light yellow, fragrant, spidery blossoms.  H. altissima blooms in late Summer to Autumn, is about 180cm tall, tightly branched and bears up to 80 pale lemon, fragrant and spidery, somewhat closed flowers.

H. dumortieri blooms very early in Spring, is about 50cm tall, bears small orange flowers with brown reverses.  It is pretty easy to recognise.

There are at least three unidentified Hemerocallis recently imported from China and Japan.  One has small orange flowers, produced on tall wirey scapes during mid-Summer in abundance, about 150cm tall and has fine foliage.  Resembles H. multiflora, but blooms 4 weeks earlier.  Another is a lightly fragrant, spidery, bi-tone, blooming in mid-Summer, 140cm tall, with about 20 buds.  May be a hybrid between H. fulva and H. citrina.  A third, which I have raised from Japanese collected seed, carries yellow flowers, non-fragrant, with a long floral tube, held on the horizontal and often has radial branching.  Blooms in late Summer, is about 160cm tall.  May be related to H. hakuunensis, if not that species.  Seed received as H. tubiflora, a non-existant species.

Fotos attached

H47
sps China
H. tubiflora (nomen-nudum)

[Stephenb]

Thanks for the link to the Hemerocallis site. I remember contacting Juerg Plodeck (who created this Web site with his Chinese wife) in 2001 as I was looking for information as to which species were cultivated for food in China (somebody sent me a link to an earlier version of this web site). He was kind enough to send the following information:

“Concerning the Hemerocallis species which may be tasty I know especially the following:
- H. citrina (this smells the best and I was told in Peking bot. garden that it is this one which is used for cooking)
- H. lilioasphodelus (if I look at the ones which one can buy in plastic bags for cooking it is either this one or it is H. altissima)
- H. altissima (see comment under H. lilioasphodelus)

I have never seen that H. fulva 'Kwanso'(recommended by PFAF) was sold in plastic bags in Chinese shops. The smell of H. fulva and its varieties is almost not present for humans. H. middendorffii has also a good smell; I do not know the smell of H. esculenta.

Normally Hemerocallis flower buds are used as a kind of spice but not as powder but rather more as entire flower or as cut flower.”

Further, he very kindly sent me fans of both H. citrina and H. altissima. Citrina flowered after only a few years (mid-to-late summer), but has been a shy flowerer since (although I had to move it which put it back). Altissima finally flowered after 7 years last summer – well worth the wait and, living up to its name, it is very tall (climbing as you can see in the picture to the 3rd floor of my house! )  - and, yes, flowering in late summer. Would love to see Hemerocallis cultivation in China one day.

From your description, my dumortieri is something else - although it is early into flower and quite low growing. So, I need that one now....

[arillady]

Jamie and Stephen - it is so nice to see species Hemerocallis - so much more tailored forms than what is usually available. Seed of the species is not offered that often is it? Well I haven't noticed much in the seed lists that I receive.

[Lvandelft]

Thank you Jamie for this very interesting website. Now I see that I have grown not the real H. citrina.
I show a picture I made of a plant of H. Hyperion, which is looking like my plant but differs from it.
I have no picture of the flower yet. (I made many pictures of Hems in the same garden)
But comparing I say it's about the same type of my plant in growth, so my plant could be a sort of the same hybrid as Hyperion.
What do you think?

Hemerocallis Hyperion

[Guff]

Daylily's are just starting to flower here.

DestinedToSee.jpg
Fortune'sFolly.jpg
OrangeDitchLily.jpg
UnKnownOrange.jpg
UnKnownRed.jpg
UnKnownYellow1.jpg
UnKnownYellow2.jpg

[Paul T]

Guff,

I just love that first one.  I've always liked the contrasting eye zones, and in combination with the picotee edging and the lavendar colouration, it looks pretty much like the perfect daylily to me.    I might have to see if that one is available here in Aus.  'Destined to see' is pretty accurate, or perhaps destined to notice might be even more accurate.  You certainly couldn't miss it I would imagine. 

Thanks for the great pics.

[Stephenb]

Jamie and Stephen - it is so nice to see species Hemerocallis - so much more tailored forms than what is usually available. Seed of the species is not offered that often is it? Well I haven't noticed much in the seed lists that I receive.

I have plants of the following from seed exchanges in recent years (AGS and SRGC):

H. citrina
H. citrina vespertina
H. fulva littoralis (littorea?)
H. lilioasphodelus
H. nana

Lilioasphodelus took 5-years to flower from seed.

[arillady]

Oh good I should be able to get a few species.

[Guff]

Paul, Destined To See is also one of my favs. It's a short plant, scape is about 2ft.

I was in a hurry and it was about to rain, so I cut off the anthers from Bella Sera before I took the picture. Not a great flower of Bella Sera, sometimes the first flower to open isn't their best.

BellaSera.jpg
Orangutan.jpg
UnknownRed2.jpg
UnknownYellow3.jpg

[Kristl Walek]

Happy to see this thread---for years I have tried to get seed of species Hemerocallis (and Hosta) for eventual seed production (& catalogue offerings)....but getting correct species has been difficult (the hybridization issue aside when they come from garden collections).

Any reliable sources anyone knows of for wild collected seed of either genus-of if anyone here has correctly named seed of ANY species (ideally from a wild source), please contact me for some crazy exchanging.

[Paul T]

Guff,

So you're doing your own hybridising then?  I'm guessing as you're removing anthers that would be the reason?  I like that last unknown yellow too, with the red eye.  nice!!

[Lesley Cox]

Mmmm... some interesting plants there all right. Not all to my taste, but....

I only grow a very short species (about 20 cms in flower, don't know what it is), and a relatively small hybrid called 'Corky.' I had a good red called 'Seventh Symphony' at one stage until an un-named male person sprayed it with Roundup while clearing some weeds.

[Paul T]

Lesley,

I must admit that in general I prefer the smaller "miniature" varieties, but I love some of the big showy "round" ones, particularly with good eye zones.  One of my favourite minis is 'Knick Knack', which is a quite small flower but very prolific.  The colour is this intense tangerine.  I have a large type called 'Simply Pretty' which matches it almost perfectly in colour as well.  'Mosel' is a nice mini cream, 'Little Zinger' is a nice mini red.  There's some beauties out there.

[Guff]

Paul, I dabble with crossing daylily's, I don't have a goal or outcome of each cross. This will be my 5th year making crosses. My first year or two I did alot of Dip crosses, but was overwhelmed with seeds. Now I just stick to my best Tet's, and get maybe 150-200 seeds each summer. Too much work, and not enough time to do anymore then that each year.

Yes, I collect the pollen and store it in the freezer to use throughout the summer. I put Bella Sera pollen onto a Destined To See flower, hopefully it takes. Bella Sera is a difficult pod parent, I can get pods to set, but they wilt and drop off after a month, I don't bother trying anymore.

If you want to browse daylily's online Google The Lily Auction