Native Lily?

I've spotted several of these growing along the side of the road a few miles from my house. They are growing in full sun, in fence rows, next to hay fields.

Might they protected, or could I transplant just one to similar conditions on my property?

It's hard to distinguish if your photo is of Lilium superbum (turk's cap lily) or of Lilium trigrinum (tiger lily), but here's a link that helps explain the difference. Basically, if the plant in question has a green star in the center, it's Lilium superbum. If it doesn't, it's Lilium trigrinum.
http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/liliumsupe.html

This is my guess anyway!

Howdy Marie_

Some gorgeous plants .. and a beautiful photo you've captured, also!

Thanks so much for the links.

I should have mentioned the size of these little cuties. Flowers were each smaller than a golf ball, and the tallest stem might have been 2'. Most stems were probably 12 - 18 ".

These are the native Lilies that occur in Wisconsin:

http://plants.usda.gov/java/stateSearch?searchTxt=lilium&searchType=Sciname&stateSelect=55&searchOrder=1&imageField.x=0&imageField.y=0

marie_

I'm far from being any lily expert .. but the Tiger Lily (Lilium lancifolium), which incidentally is also referred to as Lilium tigrinum - seems to be most similar to those you've got your 'eyes-set-on' (in your photo).
Appears that there are several species, which range in height from 2 feet to as much as 6 feet tall. There's also quite a few varying comments and notes associated, and a quite a number of images to browse - in the DG Plant Files: Here > http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1025/ Take a look and see what you think.

There's one, with an especially beautiful Swallowtail visitor, here > http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/127658/

Allowing that (we're) unable to make out the foliage nor see any details of the flowers and their centers - you'll have to make your own determinations there. (hee)

- Magpye

Biggest problem with the USDA site, is that they don't discriminate native to where ever, they do more of what has been documented. That could mean it's now naturalizing in the state in question and not indigenous to the state.

The site below has native plants for WI.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rdsduse/wi.htm

Here's a link compiled by Wild Ones for attracting birds, that includes lilies.

http://www.for-wild.org/land/wibirdpl.html

The big question you have to ask yourself is it legal to dig up the plant?

marie_

There are other possibilities, and another lily for you to check - is the Michigan Lily, which is another of the Turk's Cap Lilies (Lilium michiganense).
Here > http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/82818/

- Magpye

Here is the foliage.

I don't see a green star on any of my pics. It's not on the outside, so I'll need to go back and take a pic of the inside.

Magpye.....I'm sorry that I fogot to thank you for your compliment on my photography. The wind was blowing like crazy and the sun made the view finder screen useless......I got a few lucky shots. I never even saw the farm in the background until I had it on my computer screen.

Ohh, pumpernickel pies .. marie_ !!

How 'bout we jes call it 'even-stevens', then - - 'cause I've plum forgotten to check back {here} in the last couple of days! (heehee)

Besides, you keep those 'sorrys' and hang on to those 'thank yous' to use for far more important and other special reasons that may call for them - than to thank this ol goober-headed half-blind cantankerous ol looney-tune .. Very sweet of you, mindja .. but it jes taint necessary, kiddo.

Have you found anything from either of our posts, comments & info above - - that may help you out any at all -?-

I hope we've at least got you pointed in the 'right' general direction anyway .. (hee)

((huggerooners))

- Magpye

Aww Geez.......haven't been back to check on the little darlins'. I had to go out of town and wasn't about to wade through the ditch in my heels on the way to the airport. I hope that when I get back on Thursday morning that I can have a look. I also posted on the Lily forum and had a lot of help there as well.

Tiger lilies have only scattered leaf arrangement. Michiganense/superbum have whorled leaves (for the most part). Tiger lilies do not have the long, long flower stems shown in your pics. Flower stems of tiger lilies are more to the horizontal (except the topmost flowers). Michiganense/superbum are more to the vertical for all flower stems. And since it is blooming so well on such a short stem, and superbum isn't native to WI, my bet is that it is L. michiganense. The green star in the center is reported to be a way to tell if it is superbum. I have never seen a green star on any michiganense's, but I have only observed them all over Minnesota, and not other states, so I can't say if that differentiation holds up or not.

According to this site
http://www.uwgb.edu/birds/wso/birdscaping.pdf
Superbum is native to WI??

That site lists L. superbum, but not L. michiganense. And as being in "all or most of WI". Both are huge red flags, as michiganense would certainly be more common in WI, if indeed superbum is native at all.

Information is from herbarium specimens, but no info as to when (what era) those were archived. Most are quite old, and in my readings about when herbarium specimens are revisited by experts, it is not uncommon to discover mistakes in nomenclature, or at the very least, updates. Superbum is the first of the two species to be cataloged in America, and my guess is that these are old herbarium specimens, and could have been cataloged as superbum before michiganense was even declared a species in its own right.

I have seen a government site that claims superbum as a WI native. I don't necessarily dismiss it, as it only has to have been found once in one place in the state for it to be counted as native to the state.

What of the 5' type that I just dug and trashed from all the hosta and daylily beds? They have also risen to some stature along the fence in my 80 yr old neighbor's untended yard. They arrived without human assistance as he plants nothing. Apparently they are the superbum? Please don't tell me I just trashed a desired native! They were not desired in the locations they were growing!

Got a picture snapple? I'm sure Leftwood could help you out....lol......

Remember these lilies have whorled leaves, not scattered. Whorled leaves are shown in the this pic. Following the stem up, there is a whorl or leaves, then a naked stem, then another whorl or leaves, then a naked stem, then a whorl of leaves, etc. In a scattered formation, leaves are scattered in all directions, all over the stem.

If your lilies had whorled leaves, then I'm sorry to say that you did uproot some desirable plants. Many other species of lilies have whorled leaves, but all are good plants to grow.

I suspect though, that you're talking about the common Tiger lily, that has scattered leaves, and little black bulbs that grow in the axils of leaves (where each leaf meets the stem). A beautiful plant in its own rite, but it can harbor a lot of lily viruses.

See?? Leftwood to the rescue...lol ;0)

Ah, thanks leftwood. They were the common tiger. I'm planting lilies this fall for the first time, asiatics mostly and some orientals. One of the reasons I tossed the tigers was because I had read that they could carry diseases. Now I've got to get my cranky but loveable 80 yr old neighbor to let me dig his up. Think I'll offer to plant some new ones in their place. Hopefully that will keep him happy.

A wise decision, snapple. But as I learn more and more about the lily world, I become less and less worried about those disease carriers. I would still like to see them gone if you are planting other lilies, but if your neighbor declines your offer, don't think you're lilies are doomed. From what I have gathered from other people's experiences, chances are you'll be fine anyway. Hybrids tend to be more tolerant of viruses than species types in general.

I'm glad to see that there are more than one lily species referred to as 'Turks Cap'.

A lil bit of reseach can go a long way .. but oftentimes very difficult to get a 'bearing' tho', even into the general neighborhood. .. hee .. (Tis the case with me, most times .. anyway). .. hee

.. Leftwood ..
Sure appreciate your sharing the info and any first-hand knowledge.
(Of course, pending any new details and/or photos of which marie_ mite add [here], which may lead in a different direction)
In your humble opinion ..
* ya think that the lily that marie_ spotted may be the Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense) -?-
* And either way: neither of the species are likely considered to be an endangered or threatened species -?-

Good-ness .. Looks like I'm gonna hafta expand the types of forums I peek into! For now I see from the many threads in the Lilies Forum you've authored, that you sho' haint no green horn, Leftwood/Rick. .. lol ..

- Magpye

This message was edited Jul 27, 2007 3:37 PM

As of now, I have no doubt Marie's lily is Lilium michiganense.

In Minnesota, even though wild lilies are not endangered, threatened or even of special concern, it is still illegal to dig any wild Lilium species anywhere except on your own property, or with the landowner's consent. Wisconsin? I dunno.

Her lily looks just like the lilies growing along the fence in the country by my parents. But once you told about the difference in the leaves, then I knew it wasn't anything special, but that they were the same ones that snapple yanked out.

I was already well aware of Leftwood's expertise, and grateful that he popped in to help with my ID request. I've been out of town, and the one day that we got some rain, was the one time that I had the opportunity to recheck the lilies......and I was not dedicated enough to want to slog through the wet grass, ditch and bank in the rain. Maybe tomorrow on my way home from work. However, I may be too late to still find a blossom, but I should be able to tell if there will be any pods.

Marie, if you check in the next few days, it would be too early to see if the last blooms have set seed (although you could tell about older blooms). Wait at least another week, and you can tell once and for all. There is no hurry anyway; they've either done the deed (I mean seed, or sex - whatever) or not.