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Liliaceae FAMILY

Lilium medeoloides

Lilium medeoloides

Edibility
2/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitBulb
Growth—

Lilium medeoloides is a very cold-hardy plant, able to tolerate temperatures down to around -25°c when fully dormant[1]. Prefers an open free-draining humus-rich loamy soil with its roots in the shade and its head in the sun[1]. Stem rooting, the bulbs should be planted 7 - 12cm deep in practically pure leaf mould with plenty of grit added[2]. 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]. Closely related to L. distichum and L. tsingtauense[2]. 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]. Lilium medeoloides, Lilium hansonii and Lilium distichum seem to be related to one another, and grow allopatrically[3].

Propagation

Seed - delayed hypogeal germination according to one report[4], whilst two others suggest that it might be immediate hypogeal germination[5, 1]. If it is delayed then it is best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame, it should germinate in spring[2]. Stored seed will require a warm/cold/warm cycle of stratification, each period being about 2 months long[4]. If it is immediate then a late winter to early spring sowing should germinate in 2 - 4 weeks[4] 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 with care in the 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]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Lilium+medeoloides>

Pollinators

Bees

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]Lilies - Their Culture and Management. — Woodcock. and Coutts. · Country Life · 1935 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic, but dated. Deals with the genus Lilium.
  3. [3]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.
  4. [4]Lilies and Related Plants. — RHS Lily Group. ↩︎Lots of interesting snippets about plants in the family Liliaceae (in the old, broad sense)
  5. [5]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.
  6. [6]Flora of Japan. (English translation) — Ohwi. G. · Smithsonian Institution · 1965 · ISBN - ↩︎The standard work. Brilliant, but not for the casual reader.
  7. [7]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  8. [8]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.
  9. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎