Lilium 2009

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi  everybody,
I should need some help in trying to identify one Lilium I purchased from a UK nursery in spring. But I'm so stupid I didn't take any photo...( thinking it wasn't worth ). The story is quite simple: I've ordered one lilium CERNUUM and in fact it wasn't. Here are some things I remember about the plant:
-2 stems approximately 120-140 m high
-leaves green, lanceolate, all along the stem
-10 to 15 flowers per stem, turk's cap, yellow, downward facing,dark spots on the petals
-small bulbs at the base of the stem, at ground level
-many dark brown bulbils on the upper leaf axils
Of course I found no Lilium on the nursery's list which could match this description. So I wonder what they provide me with...
I've browsed on the internet to see pics. I've found 3 candidates: L. "citronella", L. Lancifolium ssp flaviflorum, and L. Leichtlinii. But it seems that only L. Lancifolium produces bulbils on the leaf axils. Are there other Lilium which have this particularity?
I'll try to e-mail the nursery... but they have stopped sending plants out of the UK...
Any idea of what this Lilium might be?
Thanks a lot
 

[gote]

Hi  everybody,
I should need some help in trying to identify one Lilium I purchased from a UK nursery in spring. But I'm so stupid I didn't take any photo...( thinking it wasn't worth ). The story is quite simple: I've ordered one lilium CERNUUM and in fact it wasn't. Here are some things I remember about the plant:
-2 stems approximately 120-140 m high
-leaves green, lanceolate, all along the stem
-10 to 15 flowers per stem, turk's cap, yellow, downward facing,dark spots on the petals
-small bulbs at the base of the stem, at ground level
-many dark brown bulbils on the upper leaf axils
Of course I found no Lilium on the nursery's list which could match this description. So I wonder what they provide me with...
I've browsed on the internet to see pics. I've found 3 candidates: L. "citronella", L. Lancifolium ssp flaviflorum, and L. Leichtlinii. But it seems that only L. Lancifolium produces bulbils on the leaf axils. Are there other Lilium which have this particularity?
I'll try to e-mail the nursery... but they have stopped sending plants out of the UK...
Any idea of what this Lilium might be?
Thanks a lot
 

This is most certainly Lilium lancifolium flaviflorum. - One of the few cases when a picture is not really necessary. Citronella has nearly linear leaves and no bulbils. Lechtlinii is closer but is also lacking the bulbils.
Cheers
Göte

[David Pilling]

The "L. Leichtlinii" I bought a couple of years back does produce bulbils, photo below.

However I read a few weeks back that Leichtlinii does not have papillae unlike Lancifolium and the "Leichtlinii" below does have these raised bumps on the petals although a lot less than on Lancifolium.

Do you think my plant is Leichtlinii?

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Hi,
Thank you Göte. I'll consider my Lilium is Lancifolium flaviflorum but think of take a pic next year.
In fa

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

I think it's sometimes uneasy to trust some nurseries or -maybe worse- garden centers. You can't be quite sure the plants you're purchasing are really what you ask for. And if you're not a specialist...there
are good or bad surprises at flowering time...But there's the SRGC forum...
Regards
Jean-Patrick

[gote]

I think it's sometimes uneasy to trust some nurseries or -maybe worse- garden centers. You can't be quite sure the plants you're purchasing are really what you ask for. And if you're not a specialist...there
are good or bad surprises at flowering time...But there's the SRGC forum...
Regards
Jean-Patrick

I once bougt a bulb in one of these bags with a picture on. The name on the bag was not the name of the piicture and what emerged next spring was neither of them.
Cheers
göte

[gote]

The "L. Leichtlinii" I bought a couple of years back does produce bulbils, photo below.

However I read a few weeks back that Leichtlinii does not have papillae unlike Lancifolium and the "Leichtlinii" below does have these raised bumps on the petals although a lot less than on Lancifolium.

Do you think my plant is Leichtlinii?

I do not think that this picture shows Lilium lechtlinii. I have never seen the true leichtlinii but I know var maximoviczii quite well. That one has a more narow infloresence. The leaves are more narrow, it is quite wolly on young leaves and buds and it has no bulbils. Flora of China specifically mentiones this. I think that waht you have is a commercial asiatic hybrid.
Cheers
Göte  

[David Pilling]

I think that waht you have is a commercial asiatic hybrid.

Thanks. That sounds plausible. It hasn't produced viable seed so there's not much that can be done. Last year bulbils, this year none. Flowered just before L. Lancifolium.

Googling, I found an RHS web page that says Lilium leichtlinii has bulbils, but I also found a couple of other web pages that say it does not.

The bulbs I bought seem to have gone from http://www.trecanna.com but whatever the name they were worthwhile.

[gote]

Lilium lechtlini is very rare and a misnomer.
The true species is Lilium maximoviczii = L pseudotigrinum that one grows in China Korea and Japan - perhaps also eastern Russia. Lechtlinii is a yellow sport that grows wild in a very limited location in Japan. Several of the oreange-red lilies like lancifolium, henryii, pumilum and concolor have yellow sports.
The yellow one appeared in a consignement of other bulbs and unfortunately the description and name was published before the description of the orange one.
Lechtlinii is supposed to be difficult and very rare also in cultivation but someone started selling some kind (-s?) of yellow asiatic hybrids under the name lechtlinii. Since lechlinii is very rare it would fetch a higher price so the temptation is obvious.
Cheers
Göte   

[David Pilling]

Göte - interesting comments. Perhaps one could play a game of looking at the pictures of  Lilium leichtlinii on the web and deciding which are the real thing 

[gote]

Göte - interesting comments. Perhaps one could play a game of looking at the pictures of  Lilium leichtlinii on the web and deciding which are the real thing 

Not only that one.     I think that http://www.the-genus-lilium.com/leichtlinii.htm  is fairly reliable.
Cheers
Göte

[Jean-Patrick AGIER]

Thank you Göte for this very extensive link on Lilium.

[David Pilling]

This year I had flowers from two lots of seeds. The first were "L. formosanum" and produced flowers with yellow pollen, no scent, about 18 inches high. The second were "L. formosanum Pricei", these had brown pollen, were strongly scented and slightly taller.

The web site "the genus lilium" says that formosanum has yellow pollen and philippinense is scented with brown pollen. I wonder if my Pricei are in fact philippinense? The only snag would be that they're not as tall as the specified 90cm for philippinense.

I'd be grateful for comments...

[gote]

Lilium formosanum priceii is very characteristic being so small. A side view shows it off better perhaps.
Göte

[gote]

The latest lily I grow is Lilium rosthornii. I never get any seed since the weather is getting too cold. Some info says that the difference from henryii lies in the seed pod. This is not very helpful if no pod is forming. It is quite easy to see the difference. Both have shorter leaves at the top of the stem and longer below but Rosthornii has longer and more narrow leaves. It has a shorter and more sturdy stem and is more frost hardy. On the whole I find it a better lily than Henryii. It is easy from seed if one gets any.
Cheers
Göte