Lilium bulbiferum
Lilium bulbiferum, common names orange lily, fire lily, 'Jimmy's Bane, tiger lily and St. John's Lily', is a herbaceous European lily with underground bulbs, belonging to the Liliaceae.
The Latin name bulbiferum of this species, meaning "bearing bulbs", refers to the secondary bulbs on the stem of the nominal subspecies.
Description
Lilium bulbiferum reaches on average of height, with a maximum of . The bulbs are ovoid, with whitish large and pointed scales and can reach about of diameter. The stem is erect, the leaves are lanceolate, up to 10 centimeters long. The inflorescence has one to five short-haired flowers. They are hermaphroditic and scentless, have six upright tepals, the outer are slightly narrower than the inner ones. The flowers can reach 4–6 centimeters in length and are bright yellow-orange with reddish-brown dots. The stamens are erect, about half as long as the tepals, with red anthers. The style is orange, of height. The flowering period extends from May through July.There are two varieties, L. b. var. croceum Baker in the western part of the range, and L. b. var. bulbiferum in its eastern part. Only the last one always produces secondary aerial bulbs in the axils of the upper leaves. These bulbils fall to the ground and mature after two to three years. When manually separated from the stem they can easily be used for propagating the plant.
The dwarf plants from the Maritime Alps, formerly described as var. chaixii Stoker, and the large plants from the region of Naples, formerly described as var. giganteum N. Terracc., are now considered as local variants of var. croceum.
Extrafloral nectaries on the species were first noted by Zimmerman 1932, at least for var. croceum.