Lilium arboricola

Lilium arboricola is a plant of the genus Lilium (Lilium ) in the Asian section. The species occurs in the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia and in 1954 was described scientifically.

Description

Habit

The small, very fleshy bulb is flattened top and bottom at a height of 3 and a diameter of 5 centimeters. The individual scales of the onion are 2.5 inches long, 3 inches wide, wedge-shaped at the base, abruptly triangular tapered at the bottom. Their color is at the base yellowish-white, tinged with red at the top.

The stem is erect, slender, hairless, pure green and between 70 and 120 inches long. The plant bears a few, scattered, standing on very short petioles, downwardly curved, up to 25 centimeters long and 4.5 centimeters wide, pointed lance-shaped, dark green leaves with three to five parallel veins. From the stem base to the middle of the leaves are larger, then smaller up to the top again. In the axils of the upper leaves little green Achselbulbillen be formed germ onions, which dissolve after the maturity from the armpit and later form a new plant that is genetically identical to the mother plant.

Flower and fruit

So far, only a single wild -growing specimen in bloom was found, the discovery time in August suggests a flowering period of July / August. The inflorescence bears one to three nodding flowers up to 17 centimeters long, slightly drooping and hairless flower stems, the foliage leaf -like bracts are up to 12 centimeters long.

The approximately 5 inches long and wide 8-18 millimeters bloom are slim elliptically shaped to lanceolate, the inner Blütenhüllkreises are slightly wider. They overlap each other at the base, strongly bent backwards ( Turk's cap form) and light apple green or the " tender green of a grape" ( Frank Kingdon -Ward ) and more without any coloration.

The outwardly bent upright stamens are shorter than the Perigon or stamp. The filament is of 2.2 to 2.5 inches long, pale green and purple at the upper end, the approximately 1 centimeter long, linealischen to oblong anthers are mahogany, dark orange pollen. The flowers smell strongly of clover or nutmeg. The hairless nectar gutters are short, widened in the lower part and bounded at the edges of each with a fine purple line. The cylindrical ovary is 1.8 inches long and 0.3 inches wide. When up to 2.5 centimeters long stylus is, unlike many other lilies, the scar barely wider than the pen itself

The approximately rectangular, 4 to 4.5 inches long and 2 inches wide, oblong- round fruit capsules ripen in October or November, her seed germinates instant- epigeal. The chromosome number of the plant is 2n = 24

Distribution and habitat

The only evidence comes from the mountains Hkrang - Hka River at 1370 m altitude in Kachin, Myanmar.

The plant grows wild in crotches of trees in rainforests. During the summer it is there extremely high precipitation at a relative humidity up to 100%, much drier during the winter. In its heyday in July / August the temperatures are 25-30 ° C.

Systematics / Botanical History

Lilium arboricola was discovered in April 1953 by Frank Kingdon -Ward, who took some bulbs and seeds to England. There it was in 1954 presented the first time to the public, in the same year she was also first described by William Thomas Stearn. The epithet arboricola here means as much as " arboreal ". In the culture of the people it has, however, held only a few years, at least since 1961, she was lost.

The end of 2006 was discovered by Bleddyn and Sue Wynn -Jones in Vietnam epiphythische a lily that was taken from the Welsh company Crug Farm Plants in Caernarfon as well as the Botanical Garden of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in culture and there surprisingly as a new species (Lilium eupetes ) proved.

Their closest relatives are probably primulinum Lilium Lilium and primulinum var ochraceum, Dasgupta and Deb will also stress the relative proximity to the genus Nomocharis.

Swell

• William Thomas Stearn: Kingdon - Ward's Burmese epiphytic lily, in: Gardeners' Chronicle, 136:126-127, 1954.
• S. Dasgupta, D. B. & Deb: Taxonomic revision of the genus Lilium L. in India and adjoining region, in: Candollea, 39:497, pp. 504, 1984.
• Mark Wood: Lily Species - Notes and Images, CD -ROM, as amended on 13 July 2006.
• Frank Kingdon -Ward: Return to the Irrawaddy, pp. 127-137, 1956.