Description

Lilium bulbiferum Linnaeus 1758

Lilium bulbiferum f. chaixii # 1 DC in courtesy of Darm Crook

Origin:
very enclosed area in South of France, near the Mediterranian Sea; this is a dwarf form that is found in the Alpes-Maritimes of France. This variant does have much more yellow in the throat and only petal tips are colored orange-red. One of the comments found on this possible subspecies was that it produced loads of bulbils at the axils of the leaves.

Taxonomy:
Kews regard the dichotomy of Lilium bulbiferum to subsp. croceum and subsp. bulbiferum as not valid and propose the nomenclature of f. croceum and f. bulbiferum. It´s not clear if forma chaixii can be kept as an own variation or just as an ocurrence of L. bulbiferum in a very restricted area in France. In any case it is supposed to be extremely rare, growing as a rather dwarf form compared to f. bulbiferum and f. croceum and produces axil-bulbils.

Laboratory comment:
We received seeds of Lilium bulbiferum f. chaixii # 1 PL from an alpine botanical garden in late 2021, followed by axil-bulbils we got gratefull donated by Darm Crook.

Propagation:
sowing Lilium bulbiferum f. chaixii # 1 PL (11.21) (Lbulbchaix1)
source: Pierre LaCroix, France
germination: (03.22)