i«5 



THE FULVOUS DAYLILIES— II. THE WILD FULVOUS 

 DAYLILIES OF THE ORIENT 



In a preceding article 1 three groups of cultivated fulvous day- 

 lilies, including several clons, were discussed and the question 

 raised as to whether any one of them is duplicated or even closely 

 represented in the wild. The double-flowered clons Kwanso and 

 Flore-Pleno and the variegated forms are, it would seem, of hor- 

 ticultural origin and existence. It is certain that the Linnaean 

 type of Hemerocallis fulva was in cultivation in Europe at least 

 as early as 1576, and as this particular type exists only as a hor- 

 ticultural clon it has been suggested 1 that it be known as H. fulva 

 L. clon Europa or simply as Daylily Europa. What the natural 

 relatives of this clon are like is a matter of special interest from 

 the standpoint of both botany and horticulture, and with this in 

 mind the fulvous daylilies of known wild origin and of close rela- 

 tionship to the Daylily Europa may be surveyed. 



The Hemerocallis disticha of Donn 

 Evidently no fulvous daylily other than the clon Europa found 

 its way into Europe until about 1798. Record of such a daylily 

 is found in a catalog of the plants in the Cambridge Botanical 

 Garden, England, published in 1804 by James Donn. The name 

 H. disticha is given, but the only description is the one word 

 " spreading." No statement is made of the origin of the plant, 

 but the date of the introduction is recorded as 1798. Donn also 

 lists the H. fulva of Linnaeus ; hence it is certain that his new spe- 

 cies H. disticha was different from the Europa Daylily. 



No description of the H. disticha appeared until 1823, when a 

 colored plate was published by Sweet (British Flower Garden, 

 pi. 28). The flower is described as light-brown-orange in color, 

 the perianth-tube as i J /> inches long, and the segments as lanceo- 

 late, spreading, and about 3^2 inches in length. The plant illus- 

 trated was obtained from a nursery in England, but it is stated 

 that it was of a type native in China and that plants of this type 

 had been in cultivation in England for some time, although they 

 were seldom known to yield flowers. The description and the 

 colored plate make it clear that this was a fulvous daylily which 



1 Stout, A. B. The Fulvous Daylilies — I. Jour. New York Botanical 

 Garden 30: 129-136. 1929. 



