The Lily Has A Smooth Stalk

[Cilinia Looker]

Bacterialsoft rot of Calla lily is caused by Erwinia carotovora . The soft rot infection begins in the upper portion of the corm and progresses upward into leaf and flower stalks or down into roots. Affected plants appear stunted and leaves turn yellow. The soft rot progresses throughout the tuber and plant eventually collapses and dies. The infected corm becomes soft, brown and watery. Sometimes infection starts at the edge of the petiole, which turns slimy. Leaves rot off at the base, flowers turn brown, stalks fall over. The disease spreads rapidly under warm, moist conditions.

This bacterium can survive in nonsusceptible host plants and for several years in the soil. As environmental conditions become favorable for bacterial growth, the bacteria multiply and cause disease.The addition of calcium in the media and avoiding excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer may help reduce the severity of soft rot caused by E. carotovora. Other management practices include: Discarding rotted corms, planting in well-drained soils, avoiding harvesting flowers when foliage is wet, avoiding injuring corms and keeping all production areas clean. It is also beneficial to dip corms in a copper fungicide before planting.

Plant Description: Canada Lily features smooth, light green stems that are unbranched, except at the top where the flowers are found. Leaves are distributed along the stem in whorls of three to eight with some smaller alternate leaves occurring along the upper portion of the stem. Each leaf is up to 15 cm long, 2.5 cm wide, smooth, toothless, and narrowly ovate. Stems terminate with up to 20 nodding, trumpet-shaped flowers borne on long stalks and can range in colour from reddish orange to yellow. These flowers are up to 10 cm across and feature six tepals that flare backwards (but not past the base of the flower), six stamens, and dark dots on the inside of the tepals. Flowers become oblong, 5 cm long seed capsules that are divided into three cells containing flat seeds.

In the Garden: Canada Lily adorns the summer garden with trumpet-like flowers that hang gracefully from the plant. Besides its blooms, it is valued for its clumping habit and interesting whorled foliage.

Pests: The caterpillars of several moth species feed on the leaves, stems, and corms of Canada Lily, and the introduced Lily Leaf Beetle or Red Lily Beetle (Lilioceris lilii) feeds on its leaves

Propagation: [WC; D] Canada Lily seeds must undergo a period of one to two months of warmth, at which time they will swell and become a small bulb. These then need another 60 to 90 days of cold before they begin to sprout. Seedlings typically go dormant by midsummer. Plants grown from seed will take five to six years before they flower. Propagation is easiest from division of the scaly bulb, which can be dug as soon as the plant goes dormant in late summer.

Additional Info: Canada Lily is primarily pollinated by the Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) and large butteflies such as the swallowtails. Canada lily is listed as Threatened in Indiana.

Lily bulbs have been used medicinally/nutritionally in many cultures for thousands of years. They contain a variety of substances that can promote health and well-being. In addition to proteins and carbohydrates, lily bulbs have small amounts of calcium, iron, phosphorus, and vitamins B1, B2 and C.

The ornamental value of these brightly-colored, delicate wildflowers is undeniable to anyone who is lucky enough to find the Tiger Lily flowering in the wild. Mature bulbs send up bunches of flowers on a large stalk with beautiful whorls of lance-shaped green leaves. This small but powerful bulb can grow a flower stalk up to 5 feet tall! Flowers hang downward in a delicate fashion, petals peeling back slowly to reveal orange pollen-coated stamens visited by native pollinators. It can add height and color to herbaceous borders above smaller plants. This ephemeral Spring beauty is a sight to behold.

Northwest Native American tribes today still value this special plant as food, medicine, and family. Despite great cultural losses, they continue to work towards stewarding and restoring wild populations, both strengthening the integrity of the ecology and sustaining their cultural heritage and wisdom. These strong and recovering peoples and plants deserve our respect, gratitude, and reparations. (Learn more & how to help on our Charitable Giving page.)

The leaves are in 6 to 10 whorls on the stem, usually 3 to 12 leaves per whorl. They are held horizontal or slightly ascending with drooping tips. Leaves are about 6x longer than wide, up to 6 inches long, narrowly elliptic in shape, with a pointed tip and smooth non-wavy margins. The underside is frequently rough to the touch.

The flowers are hanging downward (pendant), not fragrant, with the flower stalks longest at the base of the raceme creating a pyramid shape when there are many flowers. The perianth of the flower is a bell shape with 3 sepals and 3 petals that look the same (commonly called 'tepals') and as the flower opens the tips flare outward curving backward a little, but not fully recurved like the Turk's-cap lilies also found in the Garden. The outside color is a yellow and frequently they is a bit of reddish tint at the tips of the tepals. They may also have some maroon spotting. There are 6 stamens, slightly exserted beyond the tepals with dull magenta colored anthers up to 1/2 inch long. The filaments of the stamens are quite parallel to the single style and barely spreading at the anthers. Both style and stamen filaments are the same color as the tepals.

Seed: Fertilized flowers produce a 3-valved (chambered) seed capsule that is up to 2x as long as wide, which contains in each chamber, numerous small flattened seeds. These are wind dispersed when the capsule opens. Ruby Throated Hummingbirds have been observed as the prime pollinators of Canada Lily.

Habitat: Canada Lily is found in moist woods, wet meadows, stream sides, marshes, and open areas such as roadsides where there is moisture. It is found in the Upland Garden set back but visible from Prairie Path. Full sun is best for flowering. It grows from a yellowish rhizomatous flattened bulb than forms scales annually at the end of a creeping stolon. The creeping stolons allow vegetative reproduction. Seeds will germinate the following spring but growth the first year is entirely below ground. Flower coloration can vary from locale to locale as can the length of the leaves which can be from 2 to 10 x longer than wide.

Varieties: Over the years several botanists have defined several varieties based on flower color, leaf size, etc., particularly var. editorum and var. rubrum. Flora of North America (Ref. #W7) states "Field observations do not strongly support infraspecific splitting of Lilium canadense."

Names: The genus Lilium is derived from the Greek word 'lirion' for lily. The species name, canadense, means 'of Canada.' The accepted author name of the plant classification - 'L.,' refers to Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), Swedish botanist and the developer of the binomial nomenclature of modern taxonomy.

Comparisons: L. canadense is distinguished from the Turk's-cap Lilies, L. superbum and L. michiganense where the tepals reflex completely upward and the stamens and style extend well beyond the tepals. Comparison drawing below.

Above: Examples of the pendant flower. The tepals spread outward at the tips, but do not reflex fully backward. Stamens and style are exserted with the magenta color of the anthers contrasting with the yellow of the tepals.

Below: Comparison drawing of Lilium Canadense (1st drawing) and Lilium Superbum (2nd drawing. Both drawings from Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.

Notes: Canada Lily is not indigenous to the Garden. Eloise Butler's records show that she first introduced this plant by planting a dozen bulbs on October 22, 1910 obtained from Northrup King (a seed and plant provider). On October 7, 1912 she planted 12 from Gillett's Nursery in Southwick MA and 7 more on October 11, 1914 from Strands' Nursery at Taylor's Falls, MN, then 6 more in April 1917 from Horsford's in Charlotte Vermont. In October 1920 she got 6 more each from Gillett's and Hosford's. Martha Crone planted more in 1933 when she assumed the position of Temporary Curator, 14 more in 1945, source not mentioned, and added more in '46, '52 and '55. It is not native to Minnesota but is a native of eastern Canada and the eastern United States.

Only two lily species are native to Minnesota: L. michiganense, Michigan Lily; and L. philadelphicum, Wood Lily. L. canadense was the first North American lily to be taken back to Europe. The French had it around 1620, Linnaeus named it in 1753.

Typically 1 to 3 flowers at the top of the stem, occasionally up to 5. Flowers are 2 inches across, have 6 petal-like tepals, deep orange to red, or uncommonly nearly all yellow, yellow at the base and marked by dark maroon brown spots. Tepals are spatula shaped, abruptly narrowed at the base, the upper blade portion tapering to a pointed tip.

Leaves are generally elliptical, 2 to 4 inches long, to 1 inch wide, toothless and hairless with a pointed tip, alternately attached on the lower stem and whorled at top, with 4 to 11 leaves in a whorl. The main stem is smooth and unbranched.

Is this the same lily I used to see as a child in road ditches around Elbow Lake, MN in the 1950s? What ever happened to them, they seemed to be everywhere back then and now I never see them anymore?!

A very nice patch of wood lilies have continued to bloom in this spot since the 1950s. It is a stretch of native prairie that follows an old railroad line. They are beautiful plants and have always liked seeing the bright orange flowers dotting the area.

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