• You are here:
• Simple Key
• Orchids and related plants
• Irises, lilies, and other "monocots"
• Lilium philadelphicum

Lilium philadelphicum — wood lily

Facts

Wood lily is North America's most wide ranging true lily, but it has been declining in the northeast as prairie habitat has disappeared, and as populations of white-tailed deer, that favor it as food, have increased. In New England it is pollinated by tiger swallowtail butterflies.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), grassland, sandplains and barrens, woodlands

Characteristics

• Clonal plantlets

  Axillary bulblets

  there are no bulblets being produced in axils

• Flowers

  Anther attachment

  the anther is attached at its midpoint to the filament

  Anther color

  there is a noticeable pink, reddish or purplish tint to the anthers

  Anther length

  5–12 mm

  Bulblets replace flowers

  there are no bulblets where the flowers are located

  Carpels fused

  the carpels are fused (the number of carpels equals the number of locules)

  Flower bracts

  there are bracts associated with the flower

  Flower number

  1–6

  Flower orientation

  the flowers point upward or spread or curve outward

  Flower petal color

  • orange
  • pink to red
  • yellow

  Flower petal length

  45–77 mm

  Flower shape

  the flower is bell-shaped

  Flower symmetry

  there are two or more ways to evenly divide the flower (the flower is radially symmetrical)

  Form of style

  the style is lobed at the tip, and unbranched

  Fringed petal edges

  the petals are not fringed

  Hairs on flower stalk

  the flower stalk has no hairs on it

  Inflorescence hair glands

  the axis of the inflorescence has no hairs on it

  Inflorescence type

  the inflorescence is an umbel (with an axis so short it appears the flowers all originate from the same point)

  Length of flower stalk

  25–105 mm

  Marks on petals

  the petals have spots or streaks on them

  Nectar spur

  the flower has no nectar spurs

  Number of carpels

  3

  Number of pistils

  1

  Number of sepals and/or petals

  there are six petals, sepals or tepals in the flower

  Number of styles

  1

  Ovary position

  the ovary is above the point of petal and/or sepal attachment

  Petal and sepal arrangement

  the flower includes two cycles of petal- or sepal-like structures

  Petal appearance

  the petals are thin and delicate, and pigmented (colored other than green or brown)

  Petal base

  the petal narrows abruptly at the base

  Petal fusion

  the perianth parts are separate

  Petal hairs on inner/upper surface

  there are no hairs on the inner/upper petal surface

  Petal nectaries

  there are nectaries at the petal bases

  Sepal appearance

  the sepals resemble petals in color and texture

  Sepal length

  49–82 mm

  Sepal orientation

  the sepals are curved outwards and downwards

  Sepals fused only to sepals

  the sepals are separate from one another

  Spathe

  the plant does not have a spathe

  Spathe form

  NA

  Stamen number

  6

  Stamen position relative to petals

  NA

  Stamen types

  the stamens within a cycle are all similar

  Stamens fused

  the stamens are not fused to one another

  Stamens fused outwards

  the stamens are not fused to the petals or tepals

  Style petal-like

  the style is not broad and flattened like a petal

  Tepals

  the petals and sepals are similar in size and color

• Fruits or seeds

  Berry color

  NA

  Capsule ridges

  there are no ribs or wings on the capsule

  Fruit compartments

  there are three locules in the fruit

  Fruit cross-section

  • the fruit is at least somewhat flattened
  • the fruit is round in cross-section

  Fruit length

  22–77 mm

  Fruit type (general)

  the fruit is dry and splits open when ripe

  Fruit type (specific)

  the fruit is a capsule (splits along two or more seams, apical teeth or pores when dry, to release two or more seeds)

  Fruit width

  10–18 mm

  Other markings on berry

  NA

• Glands or sap

  Sap

  the sap is clear and watery

• Growth form

  Lifespan

  the plant lives more than two years

  Root septa

  the roots do not have transverse septa

  Underground organs

  • the plant has one or more swollen storage organs underground, such as bulbs, tubers or corms
  • there are only slender roots on the plant

• Leaves

  Hairs on underside of leaf blade

  the underside of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Hairs on upper side of leaf blade

  the upper side of the leaf is not hairy, or has very few hairs

  Leaf arrangement

  whorled: there are three or more leaves per node along the stem

  Leaf blade basal lobes

  the leaf blades do not have basal lobes

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf has no stalk

  Leaf blade cross-section

  the leaf blade is more or less flat in cross-section

  Leaf blade faces

  both surfaces of the leaf blade are exposed

  Leaf blade form

  Fully-formed (i.e., expanded), +/- green leaf blades are found somewhere on the plant

  Leaf blade length

  29–102 mm

  Leaf blade orientation

  the upper surface of the leaf blade faces the stem of the plant

  Leaf blade shape

  • the leaf blade is elliptic (widest near the middle and tapering at both ends)
  • the leaf blade is linear (very narrow with more or less parallel sides)
  • the leaf blade is oblanceolate (lance-shaped, but with the widest point above the middle of the leaf blade)

  Leaf blade surface colors

  the upper side of the leaf blade is relatively uniform in color

  Leaf blade tip

  • the tip of the leaf blade is acuminate (tapers to a long, thin point)
  • the tip of the leaf blade is acute (sharply pointed)

  Leaf blade veins

  the lateral veins are parallel or slightly arched in the direction of the tip

  Leaf blade width

  3–23 mm

  Leaf stalk length

  0 mm

  Leaf type

  the leaves are simple (lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets

  Leaflet number

  0

  Stipule twining

  NA

  Stipules

  there are no stipules on this plant

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • grasslands
  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • sandplains or barrens
  • woodlands

• Scent

  Plant odor

  the leaves have no particular smell

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Flowering stem growth form

  the flowering stem is held upright

  Flowering stem leaves

  there is at least one fully-formed leaf on the flowering stem

  Stem hairs

  the stem is nearly or completely hairless

Wetland status

Occurs in wetlands or non-wetlands. (Wetland indicator code: FAC)

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae