day lily

 

Daylily
Hybrid daylily 'Tom Collins'
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Asparagales Family: Hemerocallidaceae Genus: Hemerocallis
Species
See text.

Daylilies comprise the small genus Hemerocallis of flowering plants in the family Hemerocallidaceae. They are not true lilies which are Lilium in Liliaceae.

Description

The name Hemerocallis comes from the Greek words ἡμέρα (hēmera) "day" and καλός (kalos) "beautiful". The flowers of most species open at sunrise and wither at sunset, possibly replaced by another one on the same stem the next day. Some species are night-blooming. Daylilies are not commonly used as cut flowers for formal flower arranging, yet they make good cut flowers otherwise as new flowers continue to open on cut stems over several days.

Originally native from Europe to China, Korea, and Japan, their large showy flowers have made them popular worldwide. There are over 60,000 registered cultivars. Only a few cultivars are scented. Some cultivars rebloom later in the season, particularly if their developing seedpods are removed.

Daylilies occur as a clump including leaves, the crown, and the roots. The long, often linear lanceolate leaves are grouped into flat fans with leaves arching out to both sides. The crown of a daylily is the small white portion between the leaves and the roots, an essential part of the fan. Along the flower stem or scape, small leafy "proliferations" may form at nodes or in bracts. These proliferations form roots when planted and are the exact clones of the parent plant. Some daylilies show elongated widenings along the roots, made by the plant mostly for water storage and an indication of good health.

The flower consists of three petals and three sepals, collectively called tepals, each with a midrib in the same or in a contrasting color. The centermost section of the flower, called the throat, has usually a different and contrasting color. There are six stamens, each with a two-lobed anther. After pollination, the flower forms a pod.

Daylilies can be grown in USDA plant hardiness zones 1 through 11, making them some of the most adaptable landscape plants. Most of the cultivars have been developed within the last 100 years. The large-flowered clear yellow 'Hyperion', introduced in the 1920s, heralded a return to gardens of the once-dismissed daylily, and is still widely available. Daylily breeding has been a specialty in the United States, where their heat- and drought-resistance made them garden standbys during the later 20th century. New cultivars have sold for thousands of dollars, but sturdy and prolific introductions soon reach reasonable prices.

Tawny Daylily Hemerocallis fulva, and sweet-scented H. lilioasphodelus (H. flava is an illegitimate name), colloquially called Lemon Lily, were early imports from England to 17th century American gardens and soon established themselves. Tawny Daylily is so widely growing wild that it is often considered a native wildflower. It is called Roadside or Railroad Daylily, and gained the nickname Wash-house or Outhouse Lily because it was frequently planted at such buildings.

Hemerocallis is one of the most hybridized of all garden plants, with registrations of new hybrids being made in the thousands each year in the search for new traits. Hybridizers have extended the plant's color range from the yellow, orange, and pale pink of the species, to vibrant reds, purples, lavenders, greenish tones, near-black, near-white, and more. However, a blue daylily is a milestone yet to be reached.

Other flower traits that hybridizers develop include height, scent, ruffled edges, contrasting "eyes" in the center of the bloom, and an illusion of glitter or "diamond dust." Sought-after improvements in foliage include color, variegation, disease resistance, the ability to form large, neat clumps and being evergreen or semi-evergreen instead of herbaceous (also known as "dormant" — the foliage dies back during the winter.)

A recent trend in hybridizing is to focus on tetraploid plants, with thicker petal substance and sturdier stems. Until this trend took root, nearly all daylilies were diploid. "Tets," as they are called by aficionados, have double the number of chromosomes as a diploid plant.^[1] Only one cultivar is known to be triploid, the brilliant orange 'Kwanzo' or 'Kwanso,' which cannot set seed and is reproduced solely by underground runners (stolons) and division. Usually referred to as a "double," meaning producing flowers with double the usual number of petals (e.g., daylily 'Double Grapette'), 'Kwanzo' actually produces triple the usual number of petals.

Food uses

The flowers of some species are edible and are used in Chinese cuisine. They are sold (fresh or dried) in Asian markets as golden needles (金针 in Chinese; pinyin: jīnzhēn). They are used in hot and sour soup, daylily soup (金針花湯), Buddha's delight, and moo shu pork. The young green leaves and the tubers of some (but not all^{[citation needed]}) species are also edible. The plant has also been used for medicinal purposes.

Species

This is a list of species, not of cultivars, which number in the thousands:

• Hemerocallis altissima Stout
• Hemerocallis aurantiaca Baker
• Hemerocallis citrina Baroni

• Hemerocallis cordata C.P.Thunberg ex A. Murray
• Hemerocallis coreana Nakai
• Hemerocallis darrowiana S.Y.Hu
• Hemerocallis dumortierii Morr
• Hemerocallis esculenta Koidz.
• Hemerocallis exaltata Stout
• Hemerocallis ×exilis Satake
• Hemerocallis forrestii Diels
• Hemerocallis fulva L. : Orange Daylily, Tawny Daylily, Tiger Lily, Ditch Lily
• Hemerocallis hakuunensis Nakai
• Hemerocallis hongdoensis M.G.Chung & S.S.Kang
• Hemerocallis ×hybrida (hort.)
• Hemerocallis japonica C.P.Thunberg ex A. Murray
• Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus L, Hemerocallis flava L, Lemon Lily, Yellow daylily
• Hemerocallis littorea Makino
• Hemerocallis micrantha Nakai
• Hemerocallis middendorffii Trautv. & Mey.
• Hemerocallis minor Mill.

• Hemerocallis multiflora Stout
• Hemerocallis nana W.W.Sm. & Forrest
• Hemerocallis ×ochroleuca (hort. ex Bergmans)
• Hemerocallis pedicellata Nakai
• Hemerocallis plicata Stapf
• Hemerocallis sempervirens Araki
• Hemerocallis sendaica Ohwi
• Hemerocallis serotina Focke
• Hemerocallis ×stoutiana Traub (hort.)
• Hemerocallis sulphurea Nakai
• Hemerocallis taeanensis S.S.Kang & M.G.Chung
• Hemerocallis thunbergii Baker
• Hemerocallis ×traubara Moldenke (hort.)
• Hemerocallis ×traubiana Moldenke (hort.)
• Hemerocallis vespertina Hara
• Hemerocallis washingtonia Traub
• Hemerocallis ×yeldara Traub (hort.)
• Hemerocallis ×yeldiana Traub (hort.)
• Hemerocallis yezoensis Hara

References

See also

• Arlow Stout - pioneer in the hybridization of daylilies

External links

• The American Hemerocallis Society
• Wikibooks: How to grow Daylilies
• The Daylily Exchange (Links to informational and commercial daylily websites)
• The Lily Auction
• Daylilies hybrids
• GardenTime Hemerocallis daylilies site with botanical photographs

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