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Wood Lily, Mountain Lily - Lilium philadelphicum


Family: Liliaceae - Lily family Genus Common Name: Lily Native Status: NativeMonocot Perennial Herb
Lilium philadelphicum - Wood Lily, Mountain Lily. has quite widespread distribution in the United States and Canada. While it is common in the high mountains of the Rocky Mountains in the western part of its range, it is rare in the more eastern part of the range. Protected due to rarity in Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland (Extirpated,) New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.

The plant featured on this page was photographed at one of only three known populations of the plant in Georgia, along a road in Cloudland Canyon State Park. Roadsides are among its common habitats, along with meadows, open woods, thickets, dunes, and tallgrass prairies.

Found in:
AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, OH, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX, VA, VT, WI, WV, WY

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Lilium philadelphicum

Distribution of Lilium philadelphicum in the United States and Canada:
Map unavailable.
Map courtesy of The Biota of North America Program.
Map color key

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Site: Cloudland Canyon State Park, Dade County, GA Date: 2013-June-21Photographer: Gerald C. Williamson
Nikon D7000
Tamron SP 90MM f/2.8 AF Macro
Lilium philadelphicum has 6 tepals, as is typical of Liliaceae. They may be shades of red through orange, or occasionally yellow. The tepals can be up to 3 inches long narrow dramatically at their base. The stamens and pistil are strongly exserted.
Lilium philadelphicum

Site: Cloudland Canyon State Park, Walker County, GA Date: 2013-June-21Photographer: Gerald C Williamson
Nikon D7000
Tamron SP 90MM f/2.8 AF Macro
Wood Lily grows up to about 3 feet tall, and usually has a large, solitary flower atop the glaucous stem, although there may be as many as five flowers on a single stem. The leaves may be scattered along the stem, but there is usually at least one whorl, and may be up to 5 whorls of leaves.
Click on the photo for a larger image
Lilium philadelphicum

Site: Cloudland Canyon State Park, Walker County, GA Date: 2013-June-21Photographer: Gerald C Williamson
Nikon D7000
The tepals of Wood Lily have yellow to orange nectar guides with maroon spots.
Click on the photo for a larger image
Lilium philadelphicum

Site: Cloudland Canyon State Park, Walker County, GA Date: 2013-June-21Photographer: Gerald C Williamson
Nikon D7000
While the leaves of Lilium philadephicum may be scattered along the stem, there are usually at least one and up to five whorls of leaves. There may be just a few leaves in the whorl - maybe a partial whorl - although norm is more, up to 11 leaves.
Click on the photo for a larger image
Lilium philadelphicum

References used for identification and information:
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Lilium philadelphicum initially published on USWildflowers.com 2013-06-26; Updated 2017-03-02

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All content except USDA Plants Database map Copyright Gerald C. Williamson 2024
Photographs Copyright owned by the named photographer



Code Update 20230302