LILIES - RHS Lily Group

Sibthorp knew it only from cultivation. Hawkins made several other remarkable
discoveries. For instance, he was the first to observe the horse chestnut, Aesculus
hippocastanum, growing wild in the same general area. At that time it was already
known in cultivation in central Europe, having presumably been introduced via
Istanbul, but its native distribution is restricted to a rather small area in Greece
and southern Albania. Lilium chalcedonicum was reported from “montis Parnassi
sylvosis, et in insulâ Zacyntho” (the latter certainly in error), whereas L. martagon
was said to grow “in montosis umbrosis Graeciae” without further specification.
In Conspectus Florae Graecae (1904) – still the latest comprehensive Flora
of Greece – Eugen von Halácsy listed Lilium chalcedonicum and L. martagon
from several localities in the mountains of Sterea Ellas and Thessaly, and a new
species, L. heldreichii, was added. The latter had been described by Freyn in 1880
from Mt Parnitha (Parnes) in Attica and was said to differ from L. chalcedonicum
in the broader leaves and 1-flowered stem. As we shall see, however, the latter
shows considerable variation according to the habitat and it is almost certain the
L. heldreichii is nothing but a depauperate form of L. chalcedonicum. The white
madonna lily, Lilium candidum, was reported “in rupestribus regionis montanae”
as well as “frequenter colitur quoque in hortis”, indicating that it grows wild
in the mountains and is also frequently cultivated. Finally, an interesting new
species was added: Lilium albanicum, collected on Mount Smolikas in Epirus by
the Italian botanist Antonio Baldacci. This species had been described already by
August Grisebach in 1846, based on his own collection in 1839 from Scardus or
Šar Planina, a large mountain range on the present border between Macedonia
and Kosovo. It is a relatively small, early-flowering species with deep yellow
flowers, growing in meadows at high altitude on non-calcareous substrate.
A distinct new species, Lilium rhodopeum, was described as late as 1952 by
the Bulgarian botanist Dimiter Delipavlov. It was reported from the Bulgarian
side of the Rodhopi mountains and has subsequently been found also south of
the border, growing in damp meadows at an altitude of 1300-1800m. It has a very
restricted distribution and in rarely seen in cultivation.
The five Greek species can be keyed out as follows:
1. Lower and middle leaves in whorls of 5-10.
Buds more of less lanate to villous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3. L. martagon
– All leaves alternate. Buds glabrous or puberulent . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.
2. Flowers yellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.
– Flowers white or scarlet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.
key continued overleaf
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