Ref Jim's posting on this and two other taxa of subtropical Lilium I have all three taxa in the botanical Lilium conservation collection here Jim. While noting that this taxon Lilium neilgherense is in some instances treated as a synonym for Lilium wallichianum it appears sufficiently different to, in my view, warrant full species status however it undoubtedly does have a very distant in geological terms [and time] relationship however they are I would suggest true species, if we ever get a precise definition for that from amongst the lumpers and splitters. Whether or not they are able to be hybridised I cannot say because this year apart from having asynchronistic flowering I was unable to undertake artificial pollination and in any event ambient air temps were so low this Spring insect activity has led to very poor to almost non existent natural pollination. Generally I would regard myself as a 'lumper'. In the main L. neilgherense is an obvious white taxon but plants tending to forma rosea have been reported in nature but I have not seem them. Due to agricultural pressure pushing tea plantations ever further uphill in the area of the main distribution this lily is under threat, another source of pressure is the fondness of wild pigs - Sus scrufa who positively adore the bulbs and will grub out a whole colony overnight unless growing in boulder areas. Seed is the usual route for propagation however I found that my stock appear to be clonal and sent to me as waxy white bulbils produced by their wandering underground stems much as for example with L. lankongense. In respect to the two Japanese taxa LL. alexandrae and nobilissimum these are very much distinct in a number of characters but no doubt their evolutionary relationships are not dissimilar to that of the above Indian taxa. These latter two have another distant relative, even more subtropical in L. philippinense from further south. There is a general dearth of seed here in northern Europe from amongst most of the geophytes owing to cold Spring weather but perhaps it might be possible to help next year if the gods are kind, we are all getting rather fed up with the struggle caused by the return to colder climates, until recently it has been possible here to get away with quite a lot including Lilium nepalense going native despite lack of snow cover during a - 22 C ground frost episode last January but up they came again this year until the deer nobbeled them. Venison pie was little consolation. Iain