double-flowered tiger lily; was: Re: [pbs] Bulb Odds and ends

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net
Mon, 12 Jul 2004 19:02:38 PDT
At 07:19 AM 7/12/2004 -0400, Ellen Hornig wrote:

>The plants were robust, the flowers
>well-formed (sort of a hose-in-hose effect)...
>I've put in a whole stand in front
>of the house.

It sounds as if Ellen has the double-flowered tiger lily I'm looking for.

The tiger lily picture is a real muddle. Botanists seem to divide into
camps (surprise!) with respect to them: older botanists especially
considered them to be a true species, and in fact during the middle of the
last century various people claimed to have discovered wild diploid
populations of tiger lilies. 

Modern botanists are more likely to regard them as hybrids. I say "them",
because it has long been recognized that more than one clone of triploid
tiger lily exists. Curiously, there seems to be no unanimity with respect
to the purported parents; Lilium leichtlinii is generally cited as one part
of the pair. 

It's this "more than one clone" part that intrigues me. And with respect to
the double tiger lilies, are they all derived from the same triploid clone?
Or are there several double-flowered tiger lilies of different origin?
Ellen's plants sound much better than the ones I had, and maybe they had a
different origin. 

Double flowered tiger lilies are nothing new:  one was awarded an FCC in 1870!

Jim McKenney
jimmckenney@starpower.net
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7 where my tiger lilies set
abundant seed in the years when I have tetraploid pollen for them.   





At 07:19 AM 7/12/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>I'm quite fond of my double-flowered tiger lilies.  I first saw these in a
>large stand by the road, in the little summer community of Panther Lake,
>NY.  In a large grouping, they're superb; you definitely do a double take
>when you see them (no pun intended).  The plants were robust, the flowers
>well-formed (sort of a hose-in-hose effect), and needless to say, I came
>home with a pocketful of bulbils (the homeowner was all set to get a shovel
>and dig me some, but I assured him that was completely unnecessary).  Now
>that I have a large supply to work with, I've put in a whole stand in front
>of the house.  I do sell them, too, if anyone's interested (too large to
>ship now, of course).  
>
>Ellen Hornig
>Seneca Hill Perennials
>Oswego NY USA
>Zone 5
>
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