Lilium canadense flavum
| Lilium canadense | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-7.3 |
| Height: | 5' |
| Width: | 1' |
| Blooms: | Mid Summer |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Lilium canadense flavum
Propagation: Seed - delayed hypogeal germination[1]. Best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame, it should germinate in spring[2]. Stored seed will require a warm/cold/warm cycle of stratification, each period being about 2 months long[3]. Grow on in cool shady conditions. Great care should be taken in pricking out the young seedlings, many people leave them in the seed pot until they die down at the end of their second years growth. This necessitates sowing the seed thinly and using a reasonably fertile sowing medium. The plants will also require regular feeding when in growth. Divide the young bulbs when they are dormant, putting 2 - 3 in each pot, and grow them on for at least another year before planting them out into their permanent positions when the plants are dormant[K].
Division with care in the autumn once the leaves have died down. Replant immediately[4].
Bulb scales can be removed from the bulbs in early autumn. If they are kept in a warm dark place in a bag of moist peat, they will produce bulblets. These bulblets can be potted up and grown on in the greenhouse until they are large enough to plant out[4].
Cultivation: Prefers an open free-draining humus-rich loamy soil with its roots in the shade and its head in the sun[4]. Dislikes lime[5]. Does well in open woodland but rapidly degenerates in deep shade[2].
The dormant bulbs are very hardy and will withstand soil temperatures down to at least -10°c[6].
A very ornamental plant[7], unlike the main species this form is easily grown in Britain[2]. Polymorphic, there are a number of sub-species.
Closely related to L. michiganense. Hybridizes in nature with L. superbum but does not hybridize readily in the garden[2].
Stoloniferous[4], the bulbs should be planted 15 - 25cm deep[2]. Early to mid autumn is the best time to plant out the bulbs in cool temperate areas, in warmer areas they can be planted out as late as late autumn[4]. Never plant out in the spring[2].
The plant should be protected against rabbits and slugs in early spring. If the shoot tip is eaten out the bulb will not grow in that year and will lose vigour[4].
Range: Eastern N. America.
Habitat: Meadows, low thickets and wet woods[8].
Edibility: Bulb - cooked[9][10][11]. Rich in starch, it can be used as a vegetable in similar ways to potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). The taste is rather like raw green corn on the ear[12]. The bulb can be dried, ground into a powder and used in making bread etc[13]. A famine food, only used when better foods are not available[13]. The bulb is up to 5cm in diameter[14].
Pollinators: Bees
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Late Summer-Early Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Royal Horticultural Society. The Plantsman Vol. 4. 1982 - 1983. Royal Horticultural Society, 1982.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Woodcock, Hubert. Lilies - Their Culture and Management. Country Life, 1935.
- ↑ Reed, David. Lilies and Related Plants. 1989.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Grey, Charles. Hardy Bulbs. Williams & Norgate, 1938.
- ↑ Matthews, Victoria. The New Plantsman Volume 1. Royal Horticultural Society, 1994.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ Lyndon, Merritt. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co, 1950.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Coffey, Timothy. The History and Folklore of North American Wild Flowers. Facts on File, 1993.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.
- ↑ Britton, Nathaniel and Addison Brown. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada. Dover Publications, 1970.