Stout : The Orange Day Lily 



249 



At The New York Botanical Gar- 

 den the hybrids of H. flava X H. ful- 

 va and of the double cross {flava X 

 aurantiaca) X fulva have themselves 

 been crossed with H . aurantiaca, H . cit- 

 rina, H. Thunbergii, the varieties Flor- 

 ham and lutcola, and with several plants 

 from China and Japan so successfully 

 that over 1,200 seedlings have been ob- 

 tained all having the fulva as one or 

 two of the grandparents. Most of 

 these plants have not reached bloom- 

 ing age but most of those that have 

 bloomed possess flower colors which 

 show the fulva parentage. Flower col- 

 ors similar to certain of the fulva off- 

 spring have, however, been obtained in 

 hybrids between species and varieties 

 other than fulva, so on the basis of 

 flower color alone seedlings of unknown 

 parentage are not necessarily to be as- 

 cribed to fulva. 



Conclusion 



The history of the cultivated day 

 lilies known as Hemerocallis fulva may 

 be reconstructed as follows : Perhaps 

 more than a thousand years ago a 

 Chinese gardener saw a single seed- 

 ling day lily, either wild or in a gar- 

 den, which he deemed worthy of propa- 

 gation. Its habit of spreading by 

 rhizomes made vegetative propagation 

 simple and rapid. As the seedling 

 happened to be fully self -incompatible, 

 the condition of the great majority 

 of all day lilies, vegetative propagation 

 was necessary. In time the clon be- 

 came widely cultivated even in Europe 

 and America and continues to set no 

 fruit to self-pollination or to pollina- 

 tion between the various plants. 



It might appear from the decided 



fruitlessness of this clonal variety that 

 the apparently perfect pistils of the 

 flowers are only rarely perfect enough 

 to function in fruit setting. The pollen 

 is, however, abundant and gives good 

 germination in artificial culture yet it 

 has thus far functioned in only a 

 relatively few of the many crosses in 

 which it was used. 



The day lilies as a group, the species, 

 the varieties and the numerous seed- 

 lings already studied, are decidedly 

 fruitless to self-pollination. Many 

 crosses between them fail completely. 

 In a relatively few cases individual 

 seedlings and clonal varieties are self- 

 fruitful. Certain crosses between self- 

 sterile plants are highly productive of 

 seeds. It is clear that the sterilities 

 of the group involve chiefly incompati- 

 bilities, both self and cross, in the pro- 

 cesses of fertilization. In such cases 

 fertilization is selective and discrimina- 

 tive ; the pollen and the pistils are 

 highly functional in certain relations 

 but not in others. Capsules and seeds 

 are produced when compatible pollina- 

 tions are made. 



Thus far the fulva clon has been 

 completely self -incompatible and in its 

 crosses with other day lilies, both as a 

 seed and as a pollen parent, the com- 

 patibilities are of a weak grade and 

 only successful in a very low percentage 

 of the flowers pollinated. It seems very 

 probable that highly compatible cross 

 relationships will be found, possibly 

 with some of the seedlings now being- 

 grown or with plants that now exist 

 in China or Japan, and that then the 

 plants of fulva will yield capsules and 

 viable seeds abundantly and at the will 

 of the pollinator. 



1. Stout, A. B. 

 20:103-105. 



1919. 



Literature Cited 



Conference Notes for February. Jour. N. V. Bot. Garden 



4. Yeld, G. 

 Genetics. London. 



. 1921. Sterility and Fertility in Hemerocallis. Torreya 2():. r )7-G2. 



.. 1925. New Day Lilies. Jour. N. Y. Bot. Garden 20:109-178. 



1900. Hybrids of Hemerocallis. Reft. Third Int. Conference on 



