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 6-1 2 lanceolate 

 leaves. The nodding flowers, sometimes 40 on a single stem 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 even rolled 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 AUeghenian. 



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 lied Rose — J. C. K. Dorr 



54 



