This "was" one of those mystery lilies for some time. When Alan Mitchell of Scotland forwarded photo insets 1 and 2, he said, "It’s obviously related to Lilium taliense, but the flower colour and darker leaf colour makes me wonder if it’s an intermediate form between L. taliense and L. lijiangense, which varies from almost spotless bright yellow to very heavily spotted dull yellow. However, that’s pure speculation".
Since
This "was" one of those mystery lilies for some time. When Alan Mitchell of Scotland forwarded photo insets 1 and 2, he said, "It’s obviously related to Lilium taliense, but the flower colour and darker leaf colour makes me wonder if it’s an intermediate form between L. taliense and L. lijiangense, which varies from almost spotless bright yellow to very heavily spotted dull yellow. However, that’s pure speculation".
Since that time, it has been determined by those with far greater knowledge of this species from the RHS than I, that this is indeed a variant of Lilium taliense. Differing from L. taliense var. kaichen, the yellow is richer,the larger flowers are heavily spotted as well as the leaves are larger in overall size. This variant is primarily found flowering on Mt. Jinfushan in China.
Title photo copyright Pontus Wallstén of Switzerland. Used with permission. Pontus has an excellent book titled 'The Lily Species and their bulbs' and he can be contacted by email at pontus.wallsten@bluewin.ch for more information. He also offers some rare species lilies in limited quantities that are shipped from his nursery in Switzerland.
Photo inserts #1 and #2 courtesy of, and copyright Alan Mitchell, all rights reserved. Used with permission.
This page is for reference only, not as an offer to sell species bulbs or seeds.
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