Canada Lily

Growth habit

Geophyte

Native distribution

Native to the Finger Lakes Region, Quebec & ME to MD andIN the Mts. to VA, Oh, KY, IN & AL

Cultivation

A 3-6' tall plant with whorled leaves that supports a candelabra-like arrangement of showy orange and red flowers.
Light: part shade to full sun.
Moisture and Soil: moist soil, often in floodplain thickets and creek banks.

Propagation

Seed Treatment and Storage: Seeds are hypogeal (cotyledons remain below ground after germination). Stratify with a warm moist/cold moist/warm moist cycle. It takes 3-5 years for plants to flower.

Biocultural value

Canada lily bulbs, while edible, were considered an emergency or famine food by Native American groups such as the Cherokee and Huron. Medicinally, Canada lily was used as an antirheumatic (Cherokee), snake bite remedy (Chippewa), and treatment for irregular menstruation (Micmac).

The statements above were sourced from:

Native American Ethnobotany Database: http://naeb.BRIT Native American Ethnobotany Database.org/

Wildlife value

The large, nectariferous flower is primarily visited by ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) and butterflies, in particular swallowtails and the great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele). The flowers also attract halictid bees (Lasioglossum spp.). Native lilies (Lilium spp.) are larval host plants for the burdock borer moth (Papaipema cataphracta), golden borer moth (Papaipema cerina), common borer moth (Papaipema nebris), and carrion flower moth (Acrolepiopsis incertella). Naricssus bulb fly (Merodon equestris) maggots feed on the corms, as do voles and chipmunks. Deer, rabbits, and other mamallian herbivores browse on the foliage. An introduced beetle, the lily leaf beetle (Lilioceris lilii) has been found feeding on Canada lily and may cause adverse impacts if it continues to spread.

Source of plant

Mount Cuba Center

Description

Stem slender, erect, 6-15dm, smooth; leaves mostly in 6-11 whorls of 4-12, the lowest regularly and a few of the uppermost occasionally alternate; leaf-blades lanceolate to linear-elliptic, widest at or below the middle, tapering to both ends, often spiculate-scabrous along the margins and veins beneath, the largest 8-15cmx8-20mm; flowers 1-5, nodding from long pedicels; tepals narrowly oblanceolate, acuminate, only slightly or moderately recurved, 5-8cm, yellow or orange-yellow, varying to sometimes nearly red, marked with purple spots within; filaments straight or nearly so, only the juxtaposed anthers evidently exserted; flower bud subterete. Moist of wet meadows. Quebec & ME to MD and in the mts. to VA, OH, KY, IN and AL. June-August.

USDA Hardiness Zone

5

Status

L2|S5|G4