Close-up of the flower of Lilium lancifolium
Many species of lilies are commonly called “tiger lilies”, but this species is perhaps the best one to bear that moniker. After all, before the plant taxonomists determined it should properly be named Lilium lancifolium, the scientific name most in use for this species was Lilium tigrinum.
The Flora of North America entry for Lilium lancifolium adds:
Throughout most of modern botanical history this Chinese lily has been known as Lilium tigrinum, but recent nomenclatural reassessment affirms that Thunberg’s description, published sixteen years earlier than Ker Gawler’s, applies to this species. Though many North America species are known vernacularly as tiger lilies, the name is properly applied only to this one. Along with L. candidum, it is considered to be among the earliest domesticated lilies (H. D. Woodcock and W. T. Stearn 1950), no doubt because it is handsome, easy to grow, and the bulbs are edible and substantial. It is widely planted in North America, usually as a sterile triploid that is best propagated from the bulbils.
A frequent garden escape in eastern North America (range map in blue+teal), Lilium lancifolium is native to China, Japan, Korea, and possibly the Russian Far East. Due to longstanding uses for medicine and food (edible bulbs), its precise native range is likely impossible to determine.
CalPhotos has a large set of photographs, including one of the black bulbils.
Beautifully photographed!
Thanks Daniel as always
Many of my childhood summers were spent in the mountains of Northern California. My father was an enthusiastic and devoted trout fisherman, and I was sometimes allowed to follow him up mountain streams where I saw wild tiger lilies amid ferns and other creekside greenery. I associate that beauty with the hours-later smell of trout browning over a campfire. It was my idea of paradise.
Does this succumb to the lily leaf beetle (which is wipng out most lilies in the Northeast USA>
Michael, in a word,YES!
Is this what we used to call “Turk’s Cap lily?”
Other species get that common name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turk%27s_cap_lily
Gorgeously photographed, Daniel!
Hi Daniel,
Wonderful photograph, as usual. My tiger lilies here in southeast Colorado are nearly spent now after the hot winds this summer. Interesting to know the bulbs are edible. Thanks for a great post.