Lilium 2011

[arisaema]

Curtis' is already online, see here.

The other relevant names and synonyms listed in FoC are as follows:

Lilium primulinum var. primulinum Baker, Bot. Mag., vol. 118, t. 7227. 1892. (below)

Lilium primulinum var. burmanicum (W. W. Smith) Stearn, Gard. Chron., ser. 3. 124: 13. 1948:
Lilium nepalense D. Don var. burmanicum W. W. Smith, Trans. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh 28: 135. 1922
L. ochraceum Franchet var. burmanicum (W. W. Smith) Cotton

Lilium primulinum var. ochraceum (Franchet) Stearn, Gard. Chron., ser. 3. 124: 13. 1948:
Lilium ochraceum Franchet, J. Bot. (Morot) 6: 319. 1892
L. majoense H. Léveillé
L. nepalense D. Don var. ochraceum (Franchet) S. Yun Liang
L. tenii H. Léveillé

Lilium nepalense D. Don, Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. 3: 412. 1820.

There might be some additional names listed in CVH, I'll check it later.

[Pascal B]

Thanx Bjornar, didn't know some institute was already putting it online, very helpful, saves me time for some other "to-do" items I had on my list too....

[Pascal B]

One important feature that already is clear from the primulinum description is that it should be flowering from an umbel, something the N Vietnam plant clearly doesn't do. However, I am not sure how to interpret the "terminal inflorescence, leafy cluster along 20 cm" from the polainei description.... Given that it is "along 20 cm" it suggests it might be branched like the N Vietnam plant.

Primulinum also shows a leaflet halfway up the pedicel (but that might be a less important character) which the N Vietnam plant lacks.

[arisaema]

Remember that the above is the description of L. primulinum v. primulinum which is restricted to Burma and Laos, the Chinese varieties may differ a fair bit...

Protologues of Lilium tenii and L. majoense (+ L. pyi) below, also from Botanicus.

Edit: What the heck is Lilium duclouxii?

Kouy-tcheou is supposedly an old name for Guizhou province. Anyone know a "Ma-jo", or "Yunnan: Lou-pou, Tong-chuan" (possibly Dongchuan)?

[Pascal B]

Remember that the above is the description of L. primulinum v. primulinum which is restricted to Burma and Laos, the Chinese varieties may differ a fair bit...

The absence or presence of branched or clustered flowers is used within Lilium at a species level, in my view a much more dependable character than color or markings. So if the Chinese taxa have a branched flower stem and the ones from the border with Burma a cluster I highly doubt they belong to the same species.

[greenspan]

One important feature that already is clear from the primulinum description is that it should be flowering from an umbel, ...

inflorescence description of Lilium primulinum in flora of china: "Flowers 4--9 in a raceme".
the description in curtis: "Flowers about three, arrangend in a corymb or umbel.."

i think the formation of the inflorescence depends on the number of flowers. e.g. this foto of L. taliense shows 3 flowers emerging from the same point and not till then the flowers produce a typical raceme inflorescence. so if a young lilium bulb produces only up to 3 flowers, they could be arranged as an umbel even though the inflorescence is a raceme normally. maybe that's why in the curtis magazine description named 2 inflorescence types. (sorry my english isn't so good. i hope everybody understands what i mean  ).

[arisaema]

Here's the protologue for L. ochraceum, from J. Bot. (Morot) 6. (The .pdf is huge, but a very interesting read as it has protologues for a lot of Chinese lily species.)

Edit: Tchang Chan is Diancang Shan (i.e. CangShan) next to Dali.

[Pascal B]

Greenspan, I understand what you are saying but in the case of the N Vietnam plant I have a second bulb that has 2 flowering buds, not in an umbel but already branched. As a matter of fact, there is even a leaflet half way in between the 2 pedicels and each pedicel has 2 basal leaflets.

No comment on the Flora of China.....(..)

[greenspan]

i'll make a foto of my "poilanei"-buds this evening...free choice...umbel + raceme, depending on the number of flowers.

[arisaema]

I tend to agree with greenspan re: the value of the flower arrangement for identification; I have a L. majoense with 4 buds arranged in a perfect umbel, pictures on Google show the same lily with two flowers in a raceme. There's also a L. duchartrei with 6 buds in a raceme, and a lankongense with three buds in an umbel...

[Pascal B]

As I said, my N Vietnam plant with 2 flower buds has a branched raceme. As such that would contradict your hypothesis about a correlation, it merely shows the character itself is unstable, at least in some species and/or sections. It also shows that for keying out taliense and other species the Flora of China key becomes useless....

In case of this group of species it then depends on other characters but the original descriptions are not much of help as far as I can read them. It would be a daunting task to look into this group as not all holotypes are yet online and many characters now used were not described (shape & size of bulb, production of stolons, stem roots etc....). I think I pass.....

[Liz Mills]

By chance I took these photos in my garden in the middle of June.  I was sold the bulb as Lilium primulinum ochraceum and think this is correct.  It is hardy and long lived.  Does this help you with your discussion?

[Pascal B]

The botanical epithet "ochraceum" means pale yellow. Primulinum as per Curtis is yellow unmarked, the description of Lilium ochraceum states: "Flores 1-3, virginei nutantes, lutei, immaculati"
Which I would read as "1-3 flowers, nodding and yellow". I see no reference to any markings and suppose the "immaculati" refers to the color?! Any people on the forum that read Latin better than I do? And what does the virginei have to do with nutantes?

Whatever it is Liz, it is very attractive, does it set viable seed?

[arisaema]

Isn't "virginei nutantes" something like "nodding when young/before anthesis"? Like you I'd understand "immaculati" to mean unspotted...

[Regelian]

immaculati means unspotted, unflecked, pure.