LILY FAMILY * LILIACEAE 
TURK’S-CAP. LILY 
Lilium michiganense Farwell 
The Turk’s-cap Lily is the common species of the north 
central Mississippi valley, extending in two or three race forms 
from Minnesota to Tennessee and from the plains to the Alle- 
gheny foothills. This is 
a newly erected species 
and according to its au- 
thority is the one for 
which L. superbum L. 
has traditionally been 
mistaken. Marking 
and formations in the 
root systems are the 
determining characteris- 
tics used to separate the 
species. 
This perennial grows 
in moist fertile soil from 
a scaly bulb attached to 
a rhizome, which ex- 
plains its objectionable 
migrating habit.. The 
stems are rather stout, 
2-9 feet high, and bear 
whorls of 6-12 lanceolate 
leaves. The nodding flowers, sometimes 40 on a singlestem but 
more commonly 2-6, are terminal and orange-red, thickly spot- 
ted with purplish brown. The 6 divisions of the perianth are 
strongly curved backward or evenrolled upon themselves. The 
fruit is slightly 3-lobed and contains many black seeds. 
The Turk’s-cap Lily is often mistaken for the Canada or Wild 
Yellow Lily, Lilium canadense L. This flower, however, has a much 
yellower bloom and the divisions of its bell-shaped perianth are 
much less recurved. It is a species which authorities now agree is 
eastern and Alleghenian. 
And the stately lilies stand 
Fair in the silvery light, 
Like saintly vestals, pale in prayer ; 
Their pure breath sanctifies the air, 
As its fragrance fills the night. 
A Red Rose—J. C. R. DORR 
54 
