Guess the number of bulbils

Anyone care to guess? This is 'Blood Tiger' from Buggy Crazy. This is the most I ever had on any lily!

The very top.
I have to count yet :*) In a couple days maybe. Soon though as they are starting to drop.

This message was edited Aug 26, 2008 8:30 PM

82?

What do we win?

I have some stupid questions- Do these become more lilies? If so, do you just pop them off the plant & plant them? Do all lilies have them? I don't see any on mine. Sorry for the ????'s but I have never seen them before.

They are little plantlets (bulbils is the specific word we use). Yes, you can plant them if they easily come off the stem. Otherwise, give them a bit more time until they are ready to come off. Planting in pots until they grow bigger is best. Not very deep.

Thank you for the info! I don't see any on my orientals or orienpets. They were new last year. Are they still to young to get them, or don't all lilies get them?

Most lilies that get them have tiger lily in their genetics. However, the word tiger may not necessarily be in the name...

Oriental lilies generally don't get them, nor orienpets. Tiger lilies are in the "Asiatic" group. I have several Asiatic lilies that get these bulbils, Blood Tiger being one of them.

Age/size of the bulb doesn't seem to matter. I have a little Asiatic stem about 3 inches tall that was covered with these.

I'll add that once in a while if an oriental stem gets damaged (frost/breakage) early in the season there might be a couple of these that form right on the top instead of flower buds.

Yeah, what do *I * win, intercessor ;) ?

Well all I can offer is bulbs,bulblets,and bulbils but some of you have more than I ever will. ^_^

Imagine planting 100 bulbils.In 2-3 years you would have 10,000+ 'Blood Tigers'! I was disappointed by the color. The pictures show more of a glossy red but it is actually a burnt orange.

I bet my Momentous has at least 82 bulbils...

I say 62. :)

Anybody else care to guess? I have a final count :*)

Uhhh, Lots and lots-48? 56? My Blood Tiger is loaded with them too. I actually really like this lily because it is a darker orange and is so loaded with spotting. I think the darker red-oranges work better in my garden than the electric orange ones.

67

I ordered Blood Tiger...yay!

73

105!

110

Although most lilies in commerce with bulbils have Tiger lily ancestry, there are, of course, other species that also grow them as a natural course of their yearly life cycle. Among them:
Lilium bulbiferum (of course!)
Lilium lancifolium (the Tiger lily)
Lilium sargentiae
Lilium sulphureum

And lilies are not the only ones that produce bulbils in nature; there are many other completely unrelated species that have developed this process, too. For example, http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5464390

Rick great guess. I counted 110 +/- ^_^ Mainiac in a close 2nd.

Actually, my first guess was 106. But when I went to post, and saw that someone (Mainiac) had posted just before I was going to, I went to see what she said first. Hence my estimate of 110. So actually Mainiac and I are at a dead heat.

A fun learning thread, Andy!

I was quite surprised at the number, and that doesn't include any bulblets. If I planted all of these I could have a million plus in less than a decade :*O
My Lilium bulbiferum didn't have any bulbils but I read somewhere that there are some in cultivation that don't.

This message was edited Aug 27, 2008 8:48 PM

Holy cow that's a lot of bulbils!

Wow, I was way off! So much for counting the ones on my small Blood tiger and more than doubling them, lol!