This perennial was introduced as a showy garden flower from Eurasia. The leaves are sword-like and up to 3 feet long (D). The flowers are a deep orange and funnel-shaped. They open one at a time from a cluster of buds at the end of a leafless stalk. Each opens to about 4 inches across, but lasts only a day. Identified as a large, showy, orange flower. At Neale Woods one might also see the similar Turk’s Cap Lily (Lilium canadense.) It has nodding flower heads, brown spots on the insides of the flowers, and whorled leaves on stems.
Thriving where planted; flowering from May to July. In Fontenelle Forest this plant is uncommon at the former Baldwin homestead (Prairie Trail) and near the entrances to Mill and Child’s Hollows. At Neale Woods it is uncommon in the ditch along River Road.
Apparently introduced as a hybrid, this plant reproduces from roots only; it forms colonies where planted. The roots and young shoots have been used for more than 2000 years in China for a variety of medicinal purposes.
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