Ian, where in the world are you getting your information about Lilium leichtlinii? You seem to have nomenclature and systematics thoroughly confused. The lilies originally named Lilium leichtlinii (a lily with yellow flowers) and Lilium maximowiczii (a lily with orange flowers) have long been known to be conspecific. That is to say, both are forms of the same species. The first published name for members of this species is Lilium leichtlinii. That that is the name of the yellow-flowered form (a tiny minority of wild plants) is irrelevant. As the first published name for any member of the species, it becomes the specific epithet of all members of the species. It’s a case of the nomenclatural tail wagging the dog, to be sure. That the orange-flowered form is in fact the usual form of the species, the most numerous form of the species, is irrelevant for nomenclatural purposes. If you ask a dealer to send you Lilium leichtlinii, and he sends you the orange-flowered form rather than the yellow-flowered form you are expecting, you have only yourself to blame: the orange-flowered form and the yellow-flowered form are equally Lilium leichtlinii. Gardeners will probably continue to distinguish these lilies with Latinized botanical names at the species or varietas rank; however, given the trend among modern botanists, there is reason to question whether the yellow-flowered form deserves a unique botanical name at all. The whole point of modern taxonomy is to identify and name sexually reproducing populations. There really isn’t a sound philosophical basis for the recognition of mutations in the formal hierarchy of names. That in fact is the biggest difference between formal botany and the naming of plants for horticultural purposes: gardeners want to pigeon hole everything, and our everything is largely made up of freaks, mutations, hybrids – phenomena which do not really have much to do with the modern concepts of species. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/