I'm very very chuffed to have received an awesome present from the Lily Hybridising Fairies this year and would like to play a game! Would anyone want to take a guess at the parentage? I'd love to hear what your ideas might be about the parentage, based on the appearance of the seedling. I don't really know what I was expecting, but was happily surprised.


It's a cross between two lilies we know and grow as species.

Interesting seedling, Della! I was wondering when we might see photos from you this season.

I'm going to guess that it has L. amabile var. luteum as one of the parents.

Hi Joshua! I've had too much on my plate to keep up with things, but I hope you like the few pics I probably will post.

Thanks for having a guess, I won't say yay or nay for now - let's leave the mystery open to give anyone else a chance that wants to join in.

So, discussing features, what are your reasons for choosing amabile var. luteum?

Thanks, Della.

As for my reasons - primarily it was the form and patterning. It strongly reminded me of amabile var. luteum - a good example of this is Lisa's photo:


My understanding is that orange is more often dominant, so I would be more inclined to think that it would be the yellow var. luteum that was a parent instead of the type.

I like the reasoning. Those stripes would suggest amabile, wouldn't they?

Would it help any if I said the hybrid has a lovely fragrance?

Interesting... lankongense? Wouldn't have picked it for that if it is.

Oooohhh.... wouldn't that be wonderful! But it isn't. I haven't had any success with lankongense yet. Thanks for having a go, Joshua!

I guess I'm not the only one that would be flumoxed if I didn't already know the parentage.

Here they are, mum and dad:



Lilium leichtlinii (of commerce - not the real thing!) x Lilium cernuum var. album

I'm excited because not only is the seedling delicate as well as striped (wow - where did that come from!?), it has a beautiful fragrance.

I applied cernuum album pollen to dozens and dozens of lilies over 3 years and in that time only harvested two pods with a scant 5-6 viable seeds each. The first progeny were all weak and died in the first year, but from this cross I have three seedlings, another of which will flower in the next day or two.

A very happy Christmas!

That's certainly not what I would have expected! I am very interested to see the other seedlings.

I'm also aware that the leichtlinii available in Australia is likely a hybrid, so never thought of it when you said this was a cross of two species.

The genetics for the stripes probably come from the Leichtlinii Imposter (as I call it). There's also an interesting comment on one of the Pacific Bulb Society lilium pages (http://pacificbulbsociety.org/...) about Darm Crook suspecting cernuum var. album either to be a pumilum variety or hybrid.

Definitely a nice surprise for Christmas.

I know, complicated, isn't it? The naming or identification of both parents is dubious/open to debate, and I wasn't sure how to phrase it for accuracy. The best I could come up with was "two lilies we know and grow as species." but it wasn't clear enough without being a give-away.

If I'm remembering rightly, L. amabile var. luteum was involved in the background of the imposter leichtlinii? I think I read it recently, maybe even here, but my fuzzy memory again. Maybe those stripes do ultimately come from amabile? Pardalinum, was it you that posted something? Help!

I'll post the next seedling too when it flowers.

It's a lovely seedling Della. Let's hope it will be both floriferous and strong!

Della, I don't recall knowing anything about an imposter leichtlinii. Seems like the 'Citronella' on the market today is thought to be L. leichtlinii.

If I had posted my guess it would have been L. leichtlinii simply because I know you grow it, imposter or not.

I never would have guessed that, either. My worst problem was trying to figure out where those nice reverse colors were coming from.

L. cernuum has some really interesting genes. I'll be Tinos has L. cernuum in its background, too.

mmhm, Rick, the reverse is pretty nice!

Aah - thanks Connie! That's what I was thinking of. Only I took it to mean that the leitchlinii of commerce is a selection of 'Citronella', which I thought in turn had amabile var. luteum in it's background. That's the reason I was thinking of the leitchlinii I have as an imposter - I didn't think it was the real species. I have a selection of the wild leicthlinii now, known as Iwashimizu, and it's a very different lily from the commercial one.

The commercial leitchlinii is really dominant in all the other crosses I've used it in - getting exasperated here with all the new look-alikes I've produced. I'll have to wait a couple of years to see how different the grandkids might be!

Anyway, I was hoping those "interesting genes" of cernuum var. album might shake staid old leichtlinii up a bit, I just didn't know what to expect! Here's the second seedling:



Surprise!

It's scented too, but only faintly and while it's not unpleasant, I wouldn't call it delightful!

Your seedlings are really nice della. I am liking the patterns in the flowers.

Thanks Tracey.

The Citronellas in commerce are the imposters (fake Citronellas), not the original selections from the Fiesta Group by Jan de Graaff.

Several years back B&D Lilies was selling what they said were bulbs from the original Citronella Group. They indeed looked different, having tiny black spots as described in the Lily Register. The price as I recall was quite dear but I still kick myself for not ordering one or two of them. The parentage of the Fiesta Group is described as being from amabile, dauricum & davidii.

Della, that last "surprise" is quite exquisite. Almost bordering on tango but with no tango parentage, or Ll. duchartrei or lankongense. Breeders are moving toward a down or outfacing tango, maybe you can beat them to it by crossing it with a tango....

The commercial leitchlinii is really dominant in all the other crosses I've used it in

Maybe try it with something with L. maculatum in the background. Most hybrids that have wide(for an asiatic), shiny green leaves get that characteristic from maculatum.
These are the F1 generation of L. leichtlinii x L. maculatum var. wilsonii

Oh, those have nice height and proportions, Rick! I prefer narrow foliage in asiatics rather than wide - when I see wide, glossy foliage I tend to think the 'asiatic' is an LA! - but I can see the foliage in your seedlings is beautiful. I'll keep that in mind.

And I have a few thoughts on possible crosses with the speckly hybrid.

Thanks Connie for clarifying. It would be nice the have the original Citronella. I have quite few yellow 1c seedlings with tiny spots, I like their colour and form. Will have to see if there are any blooms left to cross with so I can send you some seeds. Not the real thing but could produce something similar!

G'day Della, that last seedling is a cracker too. How tall is it.

I thought you already had down and out facing tangoes, not in the dense pattern but the ''spreckles ''pattern?

Here is my latest down-facing tango (heavy) spreckle pattern seedling.7 blooms to a stem and about 1.5 metres tall, fully recurved, but I'm not sure about its fertility.Will know shortly.