South Australian Lilium Society

Reports of an unusual lily found in Vietnam by Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crûg Farm Plants nursery filtered through early in 2007 (Anon. 2007a, b). At the time, it was thought to be the long-lost Lilium arboricola which was last found by Frank Kingdon Ward in Upper Burma in 1953, because it shares the epiphytic habit of that species (Stearn 1954, Brickell & Sharman 1986). However, when plants in cultivation flowered during the summer of 2007 it became apparent that similarities with L. arboricola were superficial and that this was a new taxon. It is described and formally named below.

Lilium eupetes J.M.H. Shaw, sp. nov.

Species habitu cum Lilium arboricola Stearn optimae congruens, sed differt tepalis atro-purpuris, non reflexis. Type: Vietnam, Lào Cai province, 22 Nov 2006. B&S Wynn-Jones 11721 (holotype WSY).

Additional material examined:

Vietnam, Lào Cai province, Nov 2006. BSWJ 11796 (Herb. BSWJ; photo WSY); floral parts from cultivated plant, Crûg Farm Plants, Oct 2007, BSWJ 11722 (WSY).

At first glance appearing like Lilium arboricola Stearn which is related to the L. primulinum group, but differing in the maroon-purple petals forming an open stellate-campanulate flower instead of the reflexed apple-green petals of L. arboricola.

The flowers are superficially similar to those of L. souliei and L. taliense, but these species differ in many details, including a lack of auxiliary bulbils. Several other little known Lilium species, including L. puerense Y.Y. Qian, L. rockii R.H. Miao and L. pyi H. Léveillé are recorded from adjacent Yunnan, but based on the information given in the account of Lilium in Flora of China (Songyun & Tamura 2000) they cannot be equated with these collections from Vietnam. Since it has not been possible to find a match for the Vietnamese collections they are referred to a new species.

The epiphytic Lilium eupetes in fruit, growing wild in north Vietnam (above left). The maroon flowers (top right) are usually solitary and the scaly bulb (above right) is about 2.5cm in diameter – any larger and it might have difficulty remaining on the tree. One of the most distinctive features of this new species is the aerial dispersal of the bulbils (right): they are buoyed on air currents by the dead leaf.

Origin of name

The specific epithet, eupetes, is from a Greek word meaning ‘flying well'. This refers to the mode of disseminating the bulbils which form in the leaf axils. The bulbils are attached firmly to the base of the subtending leaf. As the end of the growing season nears and the plant begins to senesce, the leaves gradually wither and as they do, curl into a circular shape. The leaf eventually detaches from the stem and due to its circular shape spins through the air carrying its propagule to new habitats. This mode of dispersal is apparently unique.

Reports of an unusual lily found in Vietnam by Bleddyn and Sue Wynn-Jones of Crûg Farm Plants nursery filtered through early in 2007 (Anon. 2007a, b). At the time, it was thought to be the long-lost Lilium arboricola which was last found by Frank Kingdon Ward in Upper Burma in 1953, because it shares the epiphytic habit of that species (Stearn 1954, Brickell & Sharman 1986). However, when plants in cultivation flowered during the summer of 2007 it became apparent that similarities with L. arboricola were superficial and that this was a new taxon. It is described and formally named below.

Lilium eupetes J.M.H. Shaw, sp. nov.

Species habitu cum Lilium arboricola Stearn optimae congruens, sed differt tepalis atro-purpuris, non reflexis. Type: Vietnam, Lào Cai province, 22 Nov 2006. B&S Wynn-Jones 11721 (holotype WSY).

Additional material examined:

Vietnam, Lào Cai province, Nov 2006. BSWJ 11796 (Herb. BSWJ; photo WSY); floral parts from cultivated plant, Crûg Farm Plants, Oct 2007, BSWJ 11722 (WSY).

At first glance appearing like Lilium arboricola Stearn which is related to the L. primulinum group, but differing in the maroon-purple petals forming an open stellate-campanulate flower instead of the reflexed apple-green petals of L. arboricola.

The flowers are superficially similar to those of L. souliei and L. taliense, but these species differ in many details, including a lack of auxiliary bulbils. Several other little known Lilium species, including L. puerense Y.Y. Qian, L. rockii R.H. Miao and L. pyi H. Léveillé are recorded from adjacent Yunnan, but based on the information given in the account of Lilium in Flora of China (Songyun & Tamura 2000) they cannot be equated with these collections from Vietnam. Since it has not been possible to find a match for the Vietnamese collections they are referred to a new species.

The epiphytic Lilium eupetes in fruit, growing wild in north Vietnam (above left). The maroon flowers (top right) are usually solitary and the scaly bulb (above right) is about 2.5cm in diameter – any larger and it might have difficulty remaining on the tree. One of the most distinctive features of this new species is the aerial dispersal of the bulbils (right): they are buoyed on air currents by the dead leaf.

Origin of name

The specific epithet, eupetes, is from a Greek word meaning ‘flying well'. This refers to the mode of disseminating the bulbils which form in the leaf axils. The bulbils are attached firmly to the base of the subtending leaf. As the end of the growing season nears and the plant begins to senesce, the leaves gradually wither and as they do, curl into a circular shape. The leaf eventually detaches from the stem and due to its circular shape spins through the air carrying its propagule to new habitats. This mode of dispersal is apparently unique.