Tag: formosa lily

From “Lilium formosanum” in Lilies by Henry John Elwes:

“This remarkable lily was found by Charles Wilford, a Kew collector, on the coast of Keeling in western Taiwan (Formosa) in June 1858, but does not seem to have been known in Britain till 1881, when it bloomed in Messrs Veitch’s nursery at Chelsea.

“The bulbs were sent to Messrs Veitch by… one of their collectors who found them in Taiwan, and they were offered in the firm’s catalogue of plants for 1881, at ten shillings-and-sixpence and one-guinea apiece…. [John Gilbert] Baker had previously described the lily as a variety of L. longiflorum, and it was illustrated in Veitch’s catalogue as L. longiflorum var. formosanum…. It is readily distinguished from L. longiflorum by the narrower leaves and longer, narrower trumpet as well as by the purplish colouring outside….

“In 1912 [William Robert] Price…. gathered seeds of this lily at 2050 m on Mount Morrison. A stock of bulbs was soon raised from these seeds and distributed to the botanic gardens at Kew, Edinburgh and Glasnevin and to friends and, until a few years ago, that stock was the source of all specimens of Price’s lily in this country…. It has been found useful as a rock-garden plant since it flowers very quickly from seed…..

“The behaviour of the type plant under cultivation suggests that the taller forms are not generally suitable for outdoor cultivation in British gardens. Possibly autumnal frost and damp may destroy the leaves before they have had a chance of replenishing the bulb. However, they have succeeded in some places. As a cool greenhouse plant it is excellent, but its susceptibility to virus diseases makes it desirable to raise fresh stocks from seed at frequent intervals. In fact it has been used frequently as a test plant to establish by inoculation whether a virus is present or not…..

“Much the same may be written of the taller-growing variant of L. formosanum, to which E. H. Wilson refers as growing among Miscanthus grass in the Nanto prefecture of Taiwan…. He wrote:

“‘I have noticed that at altitudes above 1800 m this lily takes on a different form. In the plains the flower is pure white, but as one ascends the perianth becomes faintly marked with red on the reverse. Above 1800 m it is wonderfully different, being quite a small slender plant about 31 cm high with a perianth of conforming size. At the higher elevations the red markings become deeper and take the form of rich, red bands on the keels of the perianth segments. The change is so gradual and continuous that it is obviously the same species all the time.’

“Few lilies vary more than this in their behaviour in different parts of the country, and for reasons probably partly due to the later start in spring growth, and perhaps partly climatic, it seems to be more successfully grown on the other side of the border than in the south of England. In southern gardens it is happiest in full sun, but with the shelter of dwarf shrubs to screen the stem-roots and protect the vernal growth of the stem from the rigours of the climate….

“The plant is unusually quick to reach the flowering stage from the sowing of the seeds, and in October single flowers have appeared on stems of bulbs of which the seeds were sown in February of the same year. In eastern North America specimens of L. formosanum grew to 2.25 m high and carried more than 30 blooms. The remarkable length of the flower is a characteristic of both the alpine and tall forms; it may be as much as 10 cm long.”

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Hello!

This is the third of three posts with photographs of a lily with the scientific name Lilium formosanum — also known by the common names Formosa Lily, Taiwan Lily, or Taiwanese Lily — at Oakland Cemetery. The first post is Discovering the Formosa Lily (1 of 3); and the second post is Discovering the Formosa Lily (2 of 3).

Together these three posts show how well the Formosa Lily adapts to different environments, from its sandy full-sun location in the first post; to the more shaded location in the second post; to this location among a densely packed growth of ferns. The presence of so much fern-life, alone with the nearby pond, means that this third location likely has not only higher humidity but richer, more nutrient-dense soil, enabling the lily to produce darker green leaves and stems as well as large, robust flowers with swatches of pink “painted” along their ribs. While these environmental variations aren’t nearly as dramatic as those described in the excerpt at the top of this post, it’s still possible to see — by observing that sunlight and growing conditions change between sections at Oakland — how the plants’ behavior and appearance changes based on where it was planted.

Thanks for taking a look!

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From “Lilies in the Wild” in Lilies by Carl Feldmaier: 

“Lilium formosanum (Wallace 1891): As the name indicates, this lily comes from Formosa, where it grows among grass and bamboos in the volcanic and sandstone soils of the northern parts of the island….

“Distributed from sea level up to 10,000 feet, the height of the plant varies according to the altitude at which it is growing: at sea level its stem is 6 feet 6 inches long, decreasing to only 1 foot at an altitude of 10,000 feet…. In the subtropical lowlands, flowering follows unfailingly six to eight months after sowing, irrespective of season. But when it is grown in Europe the blooms do not appear until late October and the rather small, exhausted bulbs rarely overwinter and are often destroyed by frost.

“The very small bulbs, about 1/4 – 1/2 inches thick, are either white or pale-yellow; grass-like, leaf-covered stems of dark-purple grow to a height of 4 – 5 feet, although selection makes it possible to produce plants up to 10 feet tall. Nodding, white, funnel-shaped flowers, 4 1/2 – 6 inches long, narrow throat, wide-open mouth, tinged with pink along outside-centre rib, yellow pollen. Mostly only one or two flowers, long, cylindrical seed capsules, thin seeds with membrane around margins. Immediate germination. Easily recognized by its small bulb, which continually produces fresh shoots enabling the plant to flower throughout the year — unless damaged by frost….

“Because of its high susceptibility to virus infections, it is often used as a test plant. For this purpose it is inoculated with the sap of a lily which is suspected to have virus but shows no visible symptoms. Results are judged by whether the inoculated L. formosanum survives or dies.”

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Hello!

This is the second of three posts with photographs of a lily with the scientific name Lilium formosanum, also known by the common names Formosa Lily, Taiwan Lily, or Taiwanese Lily. The first post — where I describe my discovery of this new planting at Oakland Cemetery and discuss some of its unique botanical characteristics — is Discovering the Formosa Lily (1 of 3).

The first two photographs below show something I found to be quite rare on my Formosa photoshoot: a pair of plants producing about ten blossoms simultaneously. Most of the other photographs in this series show only one or two flowers per plant — which may reflect differing soil conditions, their response to excess rain and thunderstorms damaging the plants, or other environmental factors affecting their growth cycle. Given this pair’s more protected space — it’s surrounded by trees and shrubs — it may have been safer from weather damage and reacted accordingly. This does suggest, though, that if I capture the Formosa’s at a different time in their lifecycle next year, I may find more large groupings of flowers like this. The exuberant display is likely designed to attract pollinators from greater visual distances, as part of the plant’s overall reproductive strategy.

Toward the end of these galleries, you can also see how the flowers are sometimes “tinged with pink along [the] outside-centre rib” as described in the excerpt from Lilies by Carl Feldmaier at the top of this post. You’ll see more flowers with pink tinge in the third post in this series — something the plant appears to produce when it receives less sunlight or is growing in richer, more nutrient-dense soil (as opposed to sandy soil). The presence of this additional color is a normal variation among Formosa Lilies, one that — if it is a response to less light — may be produced to encourage pollinator visits by showing them color contrasts.

Thanks for taking a look!

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From “The Species and Varieties of Lilies: Lilium formosanum” in Lilies for American Gardens by George L. Slate:

“The flowers are narrow funnel-shape, with the tips of the segments gracefully recurved, pure white within, suffused with wine-purple without, or occasionally white, fragrant, and from one to ten in number. The purple-brown stem is slender, variable in height from two to six feet, and clothed with numerous, narrow, grasslike, dark lustrous green leaves which are crowded near the base of the stem, but few in number and short below the flowers. The bulb is white, tinged with rose-purple, and nearly round. This lily is a native of Formosa from sea-level to 10,000 feet altitude, where it grows in the sun among coarse grasses in a light, well-drained, somewhat acid soil….

“L. formosanum was discovered in 1858 and in 1880 the firm of Veitch in England received bulbs which they flowered. It passed out of cultivation, but was reintroduced in 1918 by E. H. Wilson. Seeds and bulbs are now generally available from American, Oriental, and European sources in quantity at reasonable prices and the lily is rapidly increasing in popularity.

“L. formosanum… is a beautiful lily well worthy of a place in any garden. The pure white trumpets come in mid-September at Geneva, N. Y., the species remaining in flower until the first frost….

“Seeds of selected pure white strains are now available from various commercial sources. Seedlings, if started early in the year, may be expected to flower the first season and field-grown seedlings will flower the second fall…. In warmer climates the bulbs grow continuously, sending up new shoots which keep the colony in flower over a long period…. The Award of Merit of the Royal Horticultural Society was given to this species in 1921.”

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Hello!

This is the first of three posts with photographs of an astonishing lily whose formal name is Lilium formosanum, also known by the common names Formosa Lily, Taiwan Lily, or Taiwanese Lily.

“Formosanum” in the plant’s species name reflects its discovery and its native location: the country of Taiwan was primarily known in the West as Formosa until the post-World War II era, after which “Formosa” declined in use in favor of “Taiwan.” As is often the case with the scientific names of plants, though, the designated species name Lilium formosanum wasn’t changed; but botanical literature would evolve to reflect the political realities by treating Formosa Lily, Taiwan Lily, or Taiwanese Lily all as informal synonyms for the same plant.

On July 17, I was at Oakland Cemetery photographing a variety of midsummer bloomers — including anemone, amaryllis, crinum, early zinnias, and many of the Japanese Show Lilies for my last three posts (see, for example, Lilium speciosum, the Japanese Show Lily (3 of 3)) when I came upon these new plantings. Here’s the first photograph I took:

This is not a particularly good photograph simply because the sun was too bright to properly separate the foreground from the background and clearly show one of these plants’ most distinctive features: their height. Lucky for me, though, all I had to do was turn around to find additional plantings, where the plants were growing against a shaded background provided by numerous trees. Here their height is even more apparent and now you can see their incoming flower buds, each one a long, bright yellow oval glowing in the filtered light:

Given how much of my photography takes place at Oakland, it might seem surprising that I keep discovering new species. But the cemetery is in year seven of a 20-year, $43.5 million renovation plan, which is so comprehensive that it includes architectural and structural changes, as well as the rejuvenation of and often addition to its existing landscaping. Click the first image below if you’d like to see the entire timeline; this project started in 2018 and extends through 2037.

So for this rather obsessive botanical photographer, the ongoing renovations mean that — in addition to natural changes that occur in dynamic gardens like those at Oakland — I can often encounter newly established plantings of species I’ve never seen before from one season to the next. I can even pretend to be one of those intrepid Victorian naturalists, don my floppy hat and sport my camera, slink and shoot among the flora, then return home to scour various sites and libraries to identify and learn more about the plants.

That, of course, is exactly what I did with these Formosas, and how I learned about its unique capabilities (like those I excerpted from George Slate’s book at the top): its adaptability to multiple soil and lighting conditions; its ability to reach and maintain substantial heights and even weather thunderstorms; and — importantly for my discovery — the fact that it can achieve this growth in the same year it’s planted. I can hardly wait to see how it expands its territory in the next year or two of its lifecycle.

I wasn’t sure how long it took these lilies to bloom, though, so I had planned to go back in about two weeks from July 17th and check on their growth. Summer thunderstorms intervened, keeping me away for longer than that; but I got a second look at them about three weeks later, on August 9. On that date, some of the plants had indeed been damaged by the storms, but most showed the strength and resilience that’s typical of these lilies, many now standing nearly six feet tall, with long, nodding blooms spread across their tops. The first two photos in the galleries below provide a wide-angle view of about 15 plants at the intersection I show above; the rest (and those in my second post) are from both locations I show above, from various angles and distances to adequately represent all this lily plant’s characteristics.

In the third post in this series, I’ll show these same lilies in a different location, where they’re tucked near an Oakland pond and surrounded by ferns. The three posts together demonstrate yet another characteristic of this lily: its ability to thrive in a variety of conditions that other lilies would find intimidating. These three locations show the lily capable of excelling in: full-day sun with sandy soil; part-day sun with more compact soil it shares with smaller plants like amaryllis; and towering above thick ferns, where the sunlight is diminished and the soil — supporting the ferns — is more like that of a shade garden or even a bog. These characteristics help account for the excitement about this lily in the quotation at the top of this post, especially given that the lily achieves this level of growth in the very same year its bulbs are planted or its seeds are sown.

Thanks for reading and taking a look!

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