Lilium davidii Duch. ex Elwes

Widely cultivated in China for its edible bulbs.

Bulb flattened globose or broadly ovoid, 2--4.5 cm in diam.; scales white, broadly ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2--3.5 × 1--1.5 cm. Stem sometimes tinged purple, 50--100 cm, densely papillose. Leaves scattered, but relatively crowded at middle of stem, linear, 7--12 cm × 2--3(--6) mm, axil sometimes with white woolly hairs, margin recurved, conspicuously papillose. Flowers solitary or 2--8 in a raceme, nodding. Tepals orange, with dark purple spots on proximal 2/3; outer ones 5--6 × 1.2--1.4 cm; inner ones 1.6--1.8 cm wide; nectaries papillose on both surfaces and with a few fimbriate projections abaxially. Filaments 4--5.5 cm; anthers 1.4--1.6 cm. Style 2--3 cm. Capsule ca. 3.5 × 1.6--2 cm. Fl. and fr. Jun--Sep.

Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, W Hubei, S Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan.

* Moist places in forests, forest margins, grassy slopes; 800--3200 m.

L. davidii var. wilmottiae

Lilium davidii is an Asian species of plants in the lily family, native to mountainous areas of Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet, Bhutan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan.

Lilium davidii grows up to 1.5m high, and bears up to about 20 unscented flowers with recurved tepals (bent backwards), orange or reddish orange, from July to August.

The plant is cultivated for its edible bulb. It is a stem-rooting lily (adventitious roots emerging above the bulb) that also forms bulbils.

The species is named for French missionary and naturalist Armand David (1826-1900).