Meadow Lily, Canada lily
Lilium canadense
Family: Liliaceae
What it is like
Lilium canadense is a BULB growing to 1.5 m (5ft). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 5. It is in flower in July, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by Bees. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid and neutral soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.
Height (m): 1.5
Where it is found
Wet meadows, moist rich woods especially edges, streamsides and river alluvia, bogs, marshes, swamps, along wet roadsides and railroads from sea level to 1000 metres.
Eastern N. America - Quebec to Nova Scotia, south to Georgia.
Conservation Status:
Countries/locations it is found in
How it is used
Food
Rating: 3
Bulb - cooked. Rich in starch, it can be used as a vegetable in similar ways to potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). The taste is rather like raw green corn on the ear. The bulb can be dried, ground into a powder and used in making bread etc. A famine food, only used when better foods are not available. The bulb is up to 5cm in diameter.
Root: includes bulbs, corms, tubers, rhizomes etc.
Medicine
Rating: 1
A poultice made from the bulbs is applied to snakebites. A tea made from the bulbs is stomachic and is also used in the treatment of irregular menses and dysentery.
Dysentery: Used in treating dysentery - an infection of the intestines that causes diarrhoea containing blood or mucus.
Poultice: A moist, usually warm or hot, mass of plant material applied to the skin in the treatment of burns etc.
Stomachic: Aids and improves the action of the stomach.
Other
Rating: 0
Food Forest: Plants for Edible Forest Gardens and Food Forests.
How it is grown
Prefers an open free-draining humus-rich loamy soil with its roots in the shade and its head in the sun. Dislikes lime. The sub-species L. canadense editorum is said to be lime tolerant. Does well in open woodland. Succeeds in partial shade but rapidly degenerates when grown in deep shade. The dormant bulbs are very hardy and will withstand soil temperatures down to at least -10°c. Stoloniferous, the bulbs should be planted 15 - 25cm deep. Only replant in autumn, never in spring. A very ornamental and easily grown plant. The species is not easy to grow in Europe. Polymorphic, there are a number of sub-species. It hybridizes in nature with L. superbum but it does not hybridize readily in the garden. Closely allied to L. michiganense. The plant should be protected against rabbits and slugs in early spring. If the shoot tip is eaten out the bulb will not grow in that year and will lose vigour. The plant is heat tolerant in zones 8 through 1. (Plant Hardiness Zones show how well plants withstand cold winter temperatures. Plant Heat Zones show when plants would start suffering from the heat. The Plant Heat Zone map is based on the number of "heat days" experienced in a given area where the temperature climbs to over 86 degrees F (30°C). At this temperature, many plants begin to suffer physiological damage. Heat Zones range from 1 (no heat days) to 12 (210 or more heat days). For example Heat Zone. 11-1 indicates that the plant is heat tolerant in zones 11 through 1.) For polyculture design as well as the above-ground architecture (form - tree, shrub etc. and size shown above) information on the habit and root pattern is also useful and given here if available. The plant growth habit is a clumper with limited spread. The root pattern is a bulb. The root pattern is stoloniferous rooting from creeping stems above the ground.
Propagating it: Seed - delayed hypogeal germination. Best sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame, it should germinate in spring. Stored seed will require a warm/cold/warm cycle of stratification, each period being about 2 months long. Grow on in cool shady conditions. Great care should be taken in pricking out the young seedlings, many people leave them in the seed pot until they die down at the end of their second years growth. This necessitates sowing the seed thinly and using a reasonably fertile sowing medium. The plants will also require regular feeding when in growth. Divide the young bulbs when they are dormant, putting 2 - 3 in each pot, and grow them on for at least another year before planting them out into their permanent positions when the plants are dormant. Division with care in the autumn once the leaves have died down. Replant immediately. Bulb scales can be removed from the bulbs in early autumn. If they are kept in a warm dark place in a bag of moist peat, they will produce bulblets. These bulblets can be potted up and grown on in the greenhouse until they are large enough to plant out.
Best place to grow: Woodland Garden Sunny Edge; Dappled Shade; Shady Edge;
Habit: Bulb
Hardiness: 4-8
Growth:
Soil: Light (sandy), medium
Shade: Semi-shade, no shade
Moisture: Moist