L. maximowiczii syn with variety tigrinum
Mary Sue Ittner (Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:53:51 PDT)

On the PBS wiki we sometimes include synonyms for
the benefit of the public to help them learn what
is the correct name and which plants are the
same. So many of the plants we have grown have
over time had multiple names and we don't usually
include all of them although it is helpful to
include ones still in use. This is complicated
by more than one opinion about correct names so
it is difficult to know when someone proposes
changing a name whether this new name is going to
be accepted. Here is the Kew entry:

Lilium leichtlinii var. maximowiczii (Regel)
Baker, Gard. Chron. 1871: 1422 (1871).
Homotypic Synonyms:
* Lilium maximowiczii Regel, Index Seminum (LE) 1866(Suppl.): 26 (1867).

* Basionym/Replaced Synonym

Heterotypic Synonyms:
Lilium pseudotigrinum Carrière, Rev. Hort. 1867: 411 (1867).

Lilium maximowiczii var. tigrinum Regel, Gartenflora 19: 290 (1870).

Lilium leichtlinii var. pseudotigrinum (Carrière)
Baker, J. Hort. Soc. London, n.s., 4: 47 (1877).

Lilium maximowiczii var. bakeri Elwes, Monogr. Lilium: t. 40, f. 2 (1880).

Lilium maximowiczii var. pseudotigrinum
(Carrière) Elwes, Monogr. Lilium: t. 40, f. 4 (1880).

Lilium maximowiczii var. regelii Elwes, Monogr. Lilium: t. 40, f. 3 (1880).

Lilium leichtlinii var. tigrinum (Regel)
G.Nicholson, Ill. Dict. Gard. 2: 271 (1887).

Lilium leichtlinii f. pseudotigrinum (Carrière)
H.Hara & Kitam., Acta Phytotax. Geobot. 36: 93 (1985).

The wiki entry says:
"Lilium leichtlinii is from Japan. The yellow
form of Lilium leichtlinii with reddish-purple
spots grows only in central Honshu, Japan's main
island, among tall grasses in rich, moist
meadows. The stem is purplish; the buds (and the
outside base of the tepals) are woolly. Height
60-120 cm (2-4'). The flowers are smaller than L.
lancifolium. The variety maximowiczii synonymous
with variety tigrinum has orange flowers."

Reading this entry it seems to me that all it
says is the Lilium leichtlinii var.
maximowiczii ( a name accepted by Kew) was also
published under the name var. tigrinum in 1887
in The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening. I
believe that is all that is meant by this. The
Tropicos data base also has this listing as a
synonym for var. maximowiczii. I suppose we could
change the synonym reference to syn. Lilium
maximowiczii var. tigrinum, syn. Lilium
pseudotigrinum, or include all three but I'm
wondering if this is really necessary. The name
cited by Iain, Lilium maximowiczii var.
leichtlinii is not listed in either place.

I know Iain is an expert on the genus Lilium. I
believe most of us in this group are merely
gardeners. We try to be as accurate as we can on
the wiki and welcome corrections, but in this
case it is not clear to me what the problem is.

Mary Sue