37 



leaves turn brown in mid-autumn with the coming- of near-freez- 

 ing temperatures, after which the flowers of the late-blooming 

 individuals continue to develop and open — a behavior unknown 

 for any other daylily. 



In the so-called " evergreen " daylilies, new leaves continue to 

 appear throughout the summer and autumn and the plants remain 

 with fresh green foliage until severe freezing temperatures pre- 

 vail. Of the wild species now known, only Hemerocallis auranti- 

 aca is decidedly evergreen. The H. fulva is only slightly ever- 

 green. The foliage of the species Hemerocallis minor, H. Dit- 

 morticrii, H. Middcndorffti, and H. Thunbergii dies early in 

 autumn or even in late summer. The foliage of H. citrina re- 

 mains green until rather late in autumn and then quickly turns to 

 a conspicuous yellow-brown and soon falls flat on the ground. 

 But meanwhile the H. aurantiaca and numerous of the named 

 horticultural clons, such as Luteola, Aureole, Ajax, Golden Bell, 

 Sir Michael Foster, Shirley, Mikado, Vesta, Wau-Bun, etc., con- 

 tinue to put forth green leaves. Some of the seedlings now being 

 grown at The New York Botanical Garden which have the ever- 



Fi ;ure 4. A single scape typical for the species Hemerocallis multi- 

 flora. Three flowers are open ; several have already hloomed ; numerous 

 buds, some of small size, will continue the blooming over a period of sev- 

 eral weeks. This particular scape was photographed on September 14 from 

 a plant that is late-blooming. 



green habit also have a second period of blooming, or, what is 

 more common, an occasional scape with flowers appears through- 

 out the late summer and autumn. In this behavior there is a 

 tendency to become " ever-blooming." But this is different from 

 the late-blooming habit of certain plants of //. multiflora which 

 have one period of flowering, which continues after the foliage is 

 nearly dead and until cold weather arrives. 



The scapes of all the plants of H. multiflora are rather slender, 

 and frequently they are gracefully bending under the load of 

 flowers and fruit. l 7 or a few plants the scapes are somewhat 

 stiffly erect to a height of as much as four feet ; for others they 

 are shorter and more bending. The scapes of a single plant may 

 be rather erect at one time and decidedly bending at another time. 

 Such variations within a wild species are not uncommon; they 

 are often the basis for the selection of different races, or of dif- 

 ferent clons. The plants with such minor differences as are seen 



