Lilium 2010

[rob krejzl]

The lankongense could be wardii - pictures of the front of the flower (wardii has a dark nectary streak) and the whole stem would help.

[partisangardener]

Lilium duchartreii is now all over the place since the stem first grows sideways and develops offsets on the way. It seems that I have two clones since one always flowers in an umbel and the other does not. The nectaries are green tunnels in the middle of the tepals. I am not sure that the picture is clear enough. Some consider this to be the same species as lankongense. It seems that the shape of theinflorecense is not a good feature to distinguish these taxa.



Cheers
Göte

Lilium duchartrei flowers in an umbel and langkongense in an panicle otherwise they are very similar
I checked this at lily dudes site http://www.the-genus-lilium.com/

[partisangardener]

One Lilium sargentiae from Chen flowered and set seed after I selfed it. It looked virused. lots of bulbills
Another 4 bulbs from Chen bought as leucanthum turned out as different clones of L.rosthornii, some with white edges. They already set seed and I keep them inside that they ripen.

[Pascal B]

The very last of the year for me to flower. Plants from Chen Yi which I believe to be Lilium sulphureum but because of the pink tinge in the flowers of one of the plants I am not sure so any comments are welcome. Flowering at ~1 m tall and about a month later than sargentiae it is bulblet forming.

[gote]

Lilium duchartreii is now all over the place since the stem first grows sideways and develops offsets on the way. It seems that I have two clones since one always flowers in an umbel and the other does not. The nectaries are green tunnels in the middle of the tepals. I am not sure that the picture is clear enough. Some consider this to be the same species as lankongense. It seems that the shape of theinflorecense is not a good feature to distinguish these taxa.
Cheers
Göte

Lilium duchartrei flowers in an umbel and langkongense in an panicle otherwise they are very similar
I checked this at lily dudes site http://www.the-genus-lilium.com/

Well yes but they are both white. Thus = duchartreii. Some taxonomists regard these as variants of a single species See Haw "Lilies of China" for details.
I also grow lankongense which is really pink and does have a slightly different feeling. It is too small to have more than a single flower (yet  )
Cheers
Göte

[ArnoldT]

Pascal:

L. sulphureum and L. sargentiae are very difficult to tell apart.  You have to look at the base of the filaments for hairs or not.

L. sulphureum  has hairy filaments.

[partisangardener]

Sorry gote I meant taliense not lankongense. both  duchartrei and taliense are white.

[Pascal B]

Pascal:

L. sulphureum and L. sargentiae are very difficult to tell apart.  You have to look at the base of the filaments for hairs or not.

L. sulphureum  has hairy filaments.

Arnold, no hairs visible, not on this one nor on the one of the previous page that flowered a month earlier and I thought was L. sargentiae (bulb size the same, planted at the same time in similar positions). So they are both sargentiae?

[partisangardener]

Sulphureum should have brown bulbills. L.sargentiae green. Mine looks very much like yours and has green bulbills. Already planted. I suspect there are many unknown variations (species?) in China, which will appear from this or other sources.

[Pascal B]

Sulphureum should have brown bulbills. L.sargentiae green. Mine looks very much like yours and has green bulbills. Already planted. I suspect there are many unknown variations (species?) in China, which will appear from this or other sources.

Hi Axel,

I have seen that remark on lilium.com but to be honest, that seems more like a horticultural observation than a reliable taxonomic character and as you can see on the second plant, third picture, the tips of the bulbils are purplish (brown) similar to one of the pictures on lilium.com for sulphureum but were green before and only started to get purplish close to the moment the flowers were opening and some leaves turned purple too so when do the bulbils have to be which color? Tricky, the formation of anthocyan is known to be influenced by external factors (like nights getting colder, light intensity or specific nutrients/trace elements).

This is the first time I grow Chinese Lilium on a larger scale but there still seems to be a lot of (field-) work to be done for this genus in China because I read about characters to distinguish species on which, in other genera, would not even suffice to discern between varieties..... . So I suspect that some closely related species are more likely nodes in a variation range than separate species if studied in the field throughout their distribution range.

Nevertheless, most are worth growing, whatever their name turns out to be....

[partisangardener]

Yes worth growing . What I wanted to say be reluctant with crossing different varieties they might be different species. An if they still exist in the wild is never certain

[Pascal B]

Yes worth growing . What I wanted to say be reluctant with crossing different varieties they might be different species. An if they still exist in the wild is never certain

Axel, no worries for that, I am a species purist and always hand-pollinate the plants and put the flowers in bags if more than 1 species flowers at the same time. When a plant in my collection turns out to be a non-natural hybrid I give it away.

To add to the confusion I have taken some close-ups of the pointed stem bulbils of the plant on the previous page (which I thought was sargentiae, "bulblets 3") and the rounded bulblets of the one I thought was sulphureum ("bulblets 5 & 7" plus an additional picture of the pink tinged flower)

[partisangardener]

A320 sulphureum AF1  (last picture) the right stem looks just like the four bulbs I got from Dix in Holland as L. rosthornii same leafs and bulbills but no flower this year. The other ones have just the same leafs and seemingly flower as my as sargentiae bought by Chen which strangely set seed selfed (one pod is growing). I believe the other "rosthornii" had the same source

[Pascal B]

I have 3 pods growing of what I thought was sargentiae by pollinating one with the other but doubt they will mature before the first frosts. Unless I can take the plants out and put them frostfree in the glasshouse, I just can't remember if I planted them in an aquatic mesh pot or straight in the soil (senior moment), will have to check that tomorrow. Here is a picture of the third plant that came with the "sargentiae" number but didn't flower. The leaves have turned reddish only last week.

[Tony Willis]

Lilium chalcedonicum bulbil formed only three weeks after putting the scale in the airing cupboard. A couple of others are showing a root and minute bulbil.