Addisonia 61 



(Plate 255) 



LILIUM CANADENSE 

 Canada Lily 



Native of eastern North America 

 Family LiuacEae Lily Family 



Lilium canadense L. Sp. PI. 435. 1753. 



This species is the most widely distributed and the most common 

 of the wild lilies of North America, being abundant in meadows 

 from Northern Maine to Georgia and Alabama, and westward to 

 Minnesota and Nebraska. Several varieties have been described, 

 some with much redder flowers than the one here illustrated. 



Once established, individual plants of this species thrive in gar- 

 dens but do not quickly and readily increase in number for the reason 

 that a rootstock rather infrequently branches. Under favorable 

 conditions new bulblets arise from scales and also from seeds. The 

 new flowering bulb, formed each year at the end of the rootstock, 

 develops rapidly during summer, producing its own roots and be- 

 • coming established as the autumn approaches. For best success 

 in transplanting, the old and the new bulb with scales and connect- 

 ing rootstock should be obtained intact late in the autumn. Seed 

 is freely obtained but frequently only by cross-pollination. The 

 seeds readily germinate but the young seedlings do not show leaves 

 above the ground for a year. 



This species is now being used in cross-breeding for the possible 

 development of new varieties desirable for cultivation. It pro- 

 duces pods and seeds in crosses with such other species as L. Grayi 

 and L. superbum. 



The yellow and red varieties now obtainable lend beauty and 

 grace to mixed border plantings in the home flower garden. Grown 

 in the perennial border both the yellow and red varieties do very 

 well, their colors and long-stemmed, bell-like, nodding flowers 

 adding charm and color in mixed plantings with delphiniums, 

 anthusas, deep blue aconitum, pale colored hollyhocks and snowy 

 white madonna lilies. 



The plant illustrated grew in the New York Botanical Garden 

 from a bulb obtained wild in the Hackensack meadows in New 

 Jersey. 



The Canada lily stands from two to five feet tall, with slender 

 smooth green stems. The leaves are lanceolate or oblanceolate, 



