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Liliaceae FAMILY

Lilium columbianum

Lilium columbianum

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitBulb
Growth—

Lilium columbianum is a very cold-hardy plant, able to tolerate temperatures down to around -25°c when fully dormant[1]. Requires a moist not too heavy well-drained acid loam in light shade[2, 3]. Succeeds in full sun[3]. Plant bulbs 10 - 15cm deep[3]. Early to mid autumn is the best time to plant out the bulbs in cool temperate areas, in warmer areas they can be planted out as late as late autumn[1]. The plant should be protected against rabbits and slugs in early spring. If the shoot tip is eaten out the bulb will not grow in that year and will lose vigour[1].

Propagation

Seed - autumnal hypogeal germination[4]. Best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame, it should germinate in spring[5]. Stored seed will require a warm/cold/warm cycle of stratification, each period being about 2 months long[5]. Grow on in cool shady conditions. Great care should be taken in pricking out the young seedlings, many people leave them in the seed pot until they die down at the end of their second years growth. This necessitates sowing the seed thinly and using a reasonably fertile sowing medium. The plants will also require regular feeding when in growth. Divide the young bulbs when they are dormant, putting 2 - 3 in each pot, and grow them on for at least another year before planting them out into their permanent positions when the plants are dormant[PFAF]. Division in autumn once the leaves have died down. Replant immediately[1]. Bulb scales can be removed from the bulbs in early autumn. If they are kept in a warm dark place in a bag of moist peat, they will produce bulblets. These bulblets can be potted up and grown on in the greenhouse until they are large enough to plant out[1]. Stem or leaf cuttings[5]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Lilium+columbianum>

Pollinators

Bees, humming birds

References

  1. [1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  2. [2]Growing Lilies. — Fox. D. · Croom Helm · 1985 ↩︎A lovely and very readable book dealing with the cultivation of the genus Lilium.
  3. [3]Lilies - Their Culture and Management. — Woodcock. and Coutts. · Country Life · 1935 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic, but dated. Deals with the genus Lilium.
  4. [4]The Plantsman. Vol. 4. 1982 - 1983. — ? · Royal Horticultural Society · 1982 · ISBN - ↩︎Excerpts from the periodical giving cultivation details and other notes on some of the useful plants, including Distylium racemosum and some perennial members of the family Berberidaceae.
  5. [5]Lilies and Related Plants. — RHS Lily Group. ↩︎Lots of interesting snippets about plants in the family Liliaceae (in the old, broad sense)
  6. [6]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  7. [7]Bulbs — Phillips. R. and Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1989 · ISBN 0-330-30253-1 ↩︎Superbly illustrated, it gives brief details on cultivation and native habitat.
  8. [8]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  9. [9]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
  10. [10]Food Plants of the N. American Indians. — Yanovsky. E. · U.S. Depf of Agriculture. · ISBN - ↩︎A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.
  11. [11]Earth Medicine, Earth Food. — Weiner. M. A. · Ballantine Books · 1980 · ISBN 0-449-90589-6 ↩︎A nice book to read though it is difficult to look up individual plants since the book is divided into separate sections dealing with the different medicinal uses plus a section on edible plants. Common names are used instead of botanical.
  12. [12]Native American Ethnobotany — Moerman. D. · Timber Press. Oregon. · 1998 · ISBN 0-88192-453-9 ↩︎Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.
  13. [13]Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains. — Harrington. H. D. · University of New Mexico Press · 1967 · ISBN 0-8623-0343-9 ↩︎A superb book. Very readable, it gives the results of the authors experiments with native edible plants.
  14. [14]Food Plants of Coastal First Peoples — Turner. N. J. · UBC Press. Vancouver. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7748-0533-1 ↩︎Excellent little handbook about the native food plants of Western Canada. Good descriptions of the plants and their uses with colour photos of most plants.
  15. [15]Ethnobotany of Western Washington. — Gunther. E. · University of Washington Press · 1981 · ISBN 0-295-95258-X ↩︎A small book, it is a good guide to useful plants in Western N. America.
  16. [16]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  17. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎