LILIES - RHS Lily Group

A vigorous clump of the Madonna Lily grows in the flower border under Bell’s
Library Windows at the Wakes and make a wonderful picture every June.
Lilium chalcedonicum
Grown by White and a real favourite of mine. Native to Greece it is one of the
oldest lilies in cultivation. Parkinson writing in his Paradisus in 1629 called this
lily the “Red Martagon of Constantinople” or “The Scarlet Martagon Lily”. This lily
is beautifully illustrated in Elwes’ Monograph on the Genus Lilium.
Lilium martagon
This lily has been naturalised for so long it is almost regarded as a native plant
in the United Kingdom. As mentioned earlier a good stand of Lilium martagon
grows on Baker’s Hill at the Wakes and some authorities believe that today’s
plants are descendants of those grown by White over two centuries ago. The
flowers of the form grown there are pink in colour.
Patrick Synge writing in “Lilies, A Revision of the Genus Lilium and its
Supplements” in 1980 suggests that the word martagon is derived from an old
Turkish word for a special form of the turban which was adopted by the sultan
Mohammed 1st. Linnaeus, following the herbalists of the day, adopted the name
martagon in his “Species Plantarum”.
Lilium pomponium
Grown by White Lilium pomponium has long been in cultivation. Linnaeus described
it in his “Species Plantarum”. This species is not currently grown at the Wakes.
And turning now to the East Coast North American lilies. As previously mentioned
we cannot be sure White grew these lilies but he would almost certainly been
aware of them. Later research may give evidence that he grew them.
Lilium canadense
This very beautiful species is not currently in cultivation at the Wakes. White may
have grown the yellow spotted form but as yet we have no direct evidence to
link him to this species.
Lilium philadelphicum
This species is not currently grown at the Wakes. The huckleberry lily, glade
lily or wood lily was introduced in the 1600s from Canada. Patrick Synge writes
“The lily was sent by John Bartram of Philadelphia, the famous American plant
collector some time before 1757 to Peter Collinson of Mill Hill and to Philip Miller,
who grew it in the Chelsea Physic Garden”. Here is perhaps the most plausible
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