'Lilium albanicum'
(Species / Wild Lily)
Once considered a subspecies of L. carniolicum (RHS International Lily Register as well as Patrick Synge in his book 'Lilies', (1980) and most recently in the McRae book 'Lilies, A Guide for Gowers and Collectors' (1998) as a subspecies of L. pyrenaicum, Derek Fox of England in his book 'Growing Lilies, (1985), also describes this beauty again as a subspecies of L. carniolicum being “the southern most counterpart of the type frequenting the mountainous areas of western Macedonia, Albania (where its name comes from) and northwestern Greece.
L. albanicum along with L. bosniacum and L. jankae have at times been treated as varieties of L. carniolicum. The are closely related, but they do have distinguishing features by which they can be readily told apart. Pontus Wallsten reports in his book 'The lily species and their bulbs' (2017) that the main difference is the intensity of the purple black spotting in the centers. L. albanicum, a native of Albania is unspotted, L. jankae from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania is heavily spotted, while L. bosniacum is very heavily spotted and can appear with a deep purple center
Described as being fairly easy to cultivate, the two main ingredients for success are said to be time and patience. It will tolerate an acidic soil but is most at home and does benefit from the addition of calcium to your garden mix. Fox states “it would benefit any plantsman's garden.” We thank plantsman Alan Mitchell of Scotland for his contribution of our title example photo.
Title photo copyright Alan Mitchell, Scotland. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Inset photos #1 and #2 are both in habitat at Katara pass, Greece as photographed by Ernst Gügel. Copyright Ernst Gügel, all rights reserved. WikiMedia Commons source. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
This page is for reference only, not as an offer to sell species bulbs or seeds.
Once considered a subspecies of L. carniolicum (RHS International Lily Register as well as Patrick Synge in his book 'Lilies', (1980) and most recently in the McRae book 'Lilies, A Guide for Gowers and Collectors' (1998) as a subspecies of L. pyrenaicum, Derek Fox of England in his book 'Growing Lilies, (1985), also describes this beauty again as a subspecies of L. carniolicum being “the southern most counterpart of the type frequenting the mountainous areas of western Macedonia, Albania (where its name comes from) and northwestern Greece.
L. albanicum along with L. bosniacum and L. jankae have at times been treated as varieties of L. carniolicum. The are closely related, but they do have distinguishing features by which they can be readily told apart. Pontus Wallsten reports in his book 'The lily species and their bulbs' (2017) that the main difference is the intensity of the purple black spotting in the centers. L. albanicum, a native of Albania is unspotted, L. jankae from Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania is heavily spotted, while L. bosniacum is very heavily spotted and can appear with a deep purple center
Described as being fairly easy to cultivate, the two main ingredients for success are said to be time and patience. It will tolerate an acidic soil but is most at home and does benefit from the addition of calcium to your garden mix. Fox states “it would benefit any plantsman's garden.” We thank plantsman Alan Mitchell of Scotland for his contribution of our title example photo.
Title photo copyright Alan Mitchell, Scotland. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Inset photos #1 and #2 are both in habitat at Katara pass, Greece as photographed by Ernst Gügel. Copyright Ernst Gügel, all rights reserved. WikiMedia Commons source. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
This page is for reference only, not as an offer to sell species bulbs or seeds.
