A. M. Kellogg was aware as early as 1859 that the tall, orange-flowered, dry-land lily from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada was distinctive, and he presented this opinion to the California Academy of Sciences about that time (A. M. Kellogg 1872). By the time he had published a description attached to the name Lilium bloomerianum, P. E. S. Duchartre had described this same plant from material provided by B. Roezl and grown by M. Leichtlin, and named it after the German explorer and botanist Alexander von Humboldt. Carl Purdy and others then misapplied Kellogg’s name in various combinations to the southern California expression recognized here as Lilium humboldtii subsp. ocellatum. The Humboldt lily is pollinated primarily by large butterflies, especially western tiger swallowtails (Papilio rutulus Lucas, family Papilionidae) and pale swallowtails (P. eurymedon Lucas), and to a lesser extent by the monarch butterfly [Danaus plexippus (Linnaeus), family Nymphalidae].
Lilium humboldtii, or Humboldt's lily, is a species of lily native to the US state of California and the Mexican state of Baja California.[1] It is named after naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. It is native to the South High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, south Outer South Coast Ranges, and the Santa Monica Mountains and others in Southern California, growing at elevations from 600 metres (2,000 ft) to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).[2]
Lilium humboldtii grows up to 6 feet (1.8 m) tall, with flowers that are maroon-spotted, golden-orange with dark red splotches, with orange to brown stamens. The plant flowers in June, with flowers growing in a pyramidal inflorescence. The flowers are on stout stems, which are sometimes brown-purple. The subrhizomatous bulb is large, with yellowish-white scales, and grows very deep in the soil. The leaves grow in whorls, and are undulate, shiny, and oblanceolate. It is summer-deciduous, dying back after flowering in mid- to late summer.[2]
Both subspecies are on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California and described as "fairly endangered in California".[3]
Albert Kellogg, unaware that the plant had already been named by Roezl and Leichtlin, gave it the name Lilium bloomerianum. For some time afterward, the name was still applied to the southern California Lilium humboldtii subsp. ocellatum.[4]
Lilium humboldtii is sold as a garden bulb. It prefers dry summer dormancy, with no water after blooming, good drainage, and part shade. It was one of the parents, along with Lilium pardalinum, that produced the Bellingham hybrid lilies, which eventually resulted in the popular 'Shuksan' and 'Star of Oregon' lilies.[2]
Lilium humboldtii, or Humboldt's lily, is a species of lily native to the US state of California and the Mexican state of Baja California. It is named after naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. It is native to the South High Cascade Range, High Sierra Nevada, south Outer South Coast Ranges, and the Santa Monica Mountains and others in Southern California, growing at elevations from 600 metres (2,000 ft) to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
