David Pilling wrote: "The plant list (and others) list Lilium formosanum var formosanum and Lilium formosanum var pricei as synonyms. which is interesting." It's been known (or assumed) for a long time that the sort of variation in height seen in Lilium formosanum in the wild is a good example of what modern taxonomists know as a cline. Names such as "Lilium formosanum var. pricei" persist in horticulture because they preserve or call attention to distinctions important to the gardener, although the recognition of such distinctions in the ranks of formal botanical taxonomy represents a mindset now eschewed by most modern taxonomists. Jim McKenney