Skip to main content

Formosa lily (Lilium formosanum)

Dlium Formosa lily (Lilium formosanum)

Taiwanese lily or formosa lily (Lilium formosanum) is a species of plant in the Liliaceae, herbaceous, erect, up to 150 cm tall, with small, round, and 2-4 cm diameter bulbs, consisting of white to yellowish lanceolate scales.

L. formosanum has smooth to papillose stems and sometimes purple shades. Leaves are distributed radially around the stem. Leaves are linear or narrow and lanceolate, up to 20 cm long and up to 1.5 cm wide.



Each unit has 1-5 flowers, funnel-shaped, fragrant in umbels. Hermaphroditic flowers consist of 3 flowers. Six flower bracts are identical, broadly spatulate and up to 16 cm long. The flower base color is pure white and the outer part is purple.

Each flower contains 3 carpels and 6 stamens. Anthers are about 12 mm long and pollen is yellow. Filaments are very long, about 12 cm long. Nectar fruits are green and have papillose stalks on both sides. Seeds mature in capsules, slender and up to 9 cm long.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Liliales
Family: Liliaceae
Subfamily: Lilioideae
Tribe: Lilieae
Genus: Lilium Tourn. ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 302 (1753)
Section: Leucolirion
Species: Lilium formosanum A.Wallace in Garden (London, 1871-1927) 40: 442 (1891)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Lilium formosanum var. microphyllum T.S.Liu & S.S.Ying in Fl. Taiwan 5: 61 (1978)
Lilium formosanum var. pricei Stoker in Lily Year-Book 4: 16 (1935)
Lilium longiflorum var. formosanum Baker in Gard. Chron., n.s., 14: 524 (1880)
Lilium philippinense var. formosanum Grove in Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 70: 63 (1921)
Lilium zairei Mynett & Mackiewicz in Acta Hort. 177: 667 (1986)

PUBLICATIONS

Aung, Y.L., Aung, M.H., Tan, Y. & Jin, X. (2025). An updated checklist of vascular plants of Myanmar. PhytoKeys 261: 135-364.

George, A.S. (ed.) (1987). Flora of Australia 45: 1-521. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L. (eds.) (2003). Plants of Southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14.: i-vi, 1-1231. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.

Grimshaw, J. (2005). Liliaceae. Flora of Tropical East Africa: 1-4.

Healey, A.J. & Edgar, E. (1980). Flora of New Zealand 3: 1-220. R.E.Owen, Government Printer, Wellington.

Iwatsuki, K., Boufford, D.E. & Ohba, H. (2016). Flora of Japan IVb: 1-335. Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo.

Orchard, A.E. (ed.) (1994). Oceanic Islands 1. Flora of Australia 49: 1-681. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Walderley, M.G.L., Shepherd, G.J., Melhem, T.S. & Giulietti, A.M. (eds.) (2005). Flora Fanerogâmica do Estado de São Paulo 4: 1-392. Instituto de Botânica, São Paulo.

Zhengyi, W. & Raven, P.H. (eds.) (2000). Flora of China 24: 1-431. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

VERNACULAR NAME

Afrikaans: Sintjosefslelie, Formosa lelie
Chinese (Simplified): 台湾百合
Chinese (Traditional): 臺灣百合 - 台灣百合 - 高砂百合 - 山蒜頭 - 野百合
English: Formosan Lily, Formosa lily, St Joseph's Lily, Saint Joseph's Lily, Wild lily, Trumpet flower, Mountain garlic, Master's flask
Finnish: formosanlilja
Indonesian: Bakung, Bunga lili
Japanese: タカサゴユリ
Polish: lilia tajwańska
Rukai: bariangalay
Russian: Лилия тайваньская (формозская)
Taiwan: 臺灣百合 - 台灣百合

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
Web: https://www.dlium.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea nil)

Japanese morning glory ( Ipomoea nil ) is a species of plant in the Convolvulaceae family, a climber with twining stems that grow up to 5 meters long. The green, finely hairy leaves are 14 cm long, heart-shaped at the base, entire or 3-5-lobed, tapering at the edges. The flowers are funnel-shaped, blue to reddish-purple with a whitish tube, 5 cm wide and up to 7 cm long. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Solanales Family: Convolvulaceae Subfamily: Convolvuloideae Tribe: Ipomoeeae Genus: Ipomoea L. in Sp. Pl.: 159 (1753) Species: Ipomoea nil (L.) Roth in Catal. Bot. 1: 36 (1797) HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS Convolvuloides triloba Moench in Methodus: 452 (1794) Convolvulus nil L. in Sp. Pl., ed. 2.: 219 (1762) Pharbitis nil (L.) Choisy in Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 6: 439 (1833 publ. 1834) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Convolvulus caeruleus (Roxb. ex Ker-Gawl.) Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 1: 593 (1824) Convolvulus coelestis G.Forst. in Fl. Ins...
Read more

Moist pimpernel (Lindernia dubia)

Moist pimpernel ( Lindernia dubia ) is a species of plant in the Linderniaceae. It is a herbaceous, ground-growing, erect, cylindrical stem with red to light brown color. The leaves are green, oval, up to 10 mm long, up to 7 mm wide, with rounded tips and reddish veins. The flowers are funnel-shaped, bluish-white, with yellow veins. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Linderniaceae Genus: Lindernia All. in Auct. Syn. Meth. Stirp. Hort. Regii Taur. 3: 178 (1766) Species: Lindernia dubia (L.) Pennell in Monogr. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 1: 141 (1935) Variety: Lindernia dubia var. dubia, Lindernia dubia var. rhizomatosa Pennell ex D.Q.Lewis HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS Ilysanthes dubia (L.) Barnhart in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 26: 376 (1899) Ilysanthes gratioloides Benth. in A.P.de Candolle, Prodr. 10: 419 (1846) Gratiola dubia L. in Sp. Pl.: 17 (1753) Limnophila dubia (L.) M.R.Almeida in Fl. Maharashtra 3B: 393 (2001)...
Read more

Plumeria rubra and Plumeria obtusa, the differences

SPECIES HEAD TO HEAD - The genus frangipani trees ( Plumeria Tourn. ex L.) has only 18 officially recorded species and two very similar species, frangipani ( Plumeria rubra L.) and white frangipani ( Plumeria obtusa L.). Both have the same habitus, flowers and fruits and are difficult to distinguish. The leaves of both species have slightly different shapes. Therefore, the leaves are very important to distinguish the two species, especially the shape of the tip. P. rubra has simple, lanceolate leaves with acute tips. P. obtusa has simple, elliptic leaves with rounded tips. By Aryo Bandoro Founder of Dlium.com . You can follow him on X: @Abandoro . Read more: Plumeria rubra Plumeria obtusa
Read more