Leopard Lilly, panther lily, Pitkin Marsh lily

Lilium pardalinum

Lilium pardalinum is similar to Lilium Humboldtii but a species that is next to streams. (The British call it a panther lily, California calls it Leopard Lilly) It needs a little more water and is a little smaller. The plant can reach 3 ft. tall and have flowers that are 3 inches across. These will grow fine in inside patio or Mall planter as long as there is @30% sun and regular water.

” General: Lily Family (Liliaceae). This perennial herbaceous plant grows along stream banks and moist meadows below 2,000 m elevation. It has five subspecies (pardalinum, pitkinense (rare), shastense, vollmeri, and wigginsii). The stems are from 3 to 7 feet tall and the leaves appear in 1 to 8 whorls up the stem or are scattered. The leaves are linear to lanceolate, 1-2 dm. long. The branched rhizome is thick and fleshy and densely covered with two-jointed, sometimes three-or four-jointed bulb scales which are clonal. The bell-shaped flowers are one to many on long spreading pedicels. The flowers are pale to bright orange-red with a lighter orange center and purple spots on the lower half. The flowers are arranged in a terminal raceme. The capsule is narrowly oblong, acutely angled and one and one-half inches long and contain flat seeds.”

“Ethnobotanic: There are five subspecies of leopard lily and probably all were utilized by various Native American cultural groups. The bulbs were pried loose from the earth with a digging stick, and baked or steamed by the Atsugewi, Yurok, Hupa, Karuk, Wailaki, Yana, and Sierra Miwok of California. A number of native people still dig the bulbs today. Tribes in northwestern California, for example, harvest the bulb in August or the fall, being careful to only take the large ones and replant the smaller bulb scales for later harvest. Traditionally, the Karuk baked the bulbs in an earth oven. The Sierra Miwok wore the flowers as wreaths. The bulbs are also eaten by small and large mammals.” (http://www.gardenguides.com/plants/plantguides/flowers/plantguide.asp?symbol=LIPA)