Wheel Lily

Lilium medeoloides

September 6 Birth Flower

Location: Kurobedaira Alpine Botanical garden
Location: Kurobedaira Alpine Botanical garden
Location: Kurobedaira Alpine Botanical garden
Location: Kurobedaira Alpine Botanical garden
Location: Kurobedaira Alpine Botanical garden

Flower name
Wheel Lily
Scientific name
Lilium medeoloides
Alias車百合, Wheel Lily
Place of originHokkaido-Honshu Japan, Korea
Place of floweringHigh mountain, Sub-alpine
Flowering seasonJuly, August
Purposes
Garden Planting
Language of flowers“Purity,” “Cheerfulness,” “Multitalented Person”

What is Wheel Lily

Birth flowers for Sep 6

September 6 Birth Flower isWheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides）.

💧Poem about the Drops on a Wheel Lily: “Round Dance of the Mountain Wind”

The petals curl back,
spreading out just like a wheel.
The wheel lily is
a dignified flower wrapped in the mountain wind.

Black spots on orange petals.
That pattern is
a tiny work of art painted by nature.
“It’s okay to be proud of your own pattern,”
it whispers softly.
by Aqua

Flower Language

“Purity,” “Cheerfulness,” “Multitalented Person”

Wheel Lily

The Wheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides) is a subalpine to alpine perennial native to Japan and the Korean Peninsula, belonging to the genus Lilium in the Liliaceae family.
In Japan, it grows wild in subalpine to alpine regions from Hokkaido to central Honshu and northward.

It grows to a height of 30–80 cm.
The bulb is white, spherical, about 2 cm in diameter, and edible.
The leaves grow in a whorl at the center of the stem.
From July to August, the plant extends a flower stalk, and at its tip, it produces a 6-cm-long, six-petaled flower with a deep orange background dotted with dark orange spots, which curves sharply upward.
The fruit that forms after flowering is an obovate capsule about 2 cm long.
It is used for ornamental purposes, and its root vegetable (bulb) is edible.

The Difference Between the Wheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides) and the Spotted Lily

The Wheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides) and the spotted lily (scientific name: Lilium maculatum) are similar.
The difference is that
the Wheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides) like the Tiger Lily (Lilium lancifolium) and the Small Tiger Lily or Ko-oni-yuri（Lilium leichtlinii ）, has flowers that open downward, with the tips of the petals curving back sharply.
In contrast, the Spotted Lily (scientific name: Lilium maculatum) blooms facing upward, and its petals do not curl back excessively.

Differences from the Small Tiger Lily or Ko-oni-yuri（Lilium leichtlinii)

Wheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides) and Lilium lancifolium are similar. The differences are as follows:
Wheel Lily (Lilium medeoloides) has radiating leaves arranged in a wheel-like whorl around the center of the stem, and its anthers are bright orange, whereas
the Lilium lancifolium has alternate leaves, and its anthers are dark orange.

General name: Wheel Lily
scientific name: Lilium medeoloides,
aka: Curl lily
Origin: Hokkaido-Honshu Japan, the Korean peninsula, environment: (sub) Alpine, living type: perennials,
plant height: 30-80 cm,
leaves: stems Central whorled,
perianth piece color: orange with dark orange spots scattered, perianth piece: 6 cards the flower size: 5-6 cm, flower length: 6 cm, flowering orientation: up, flowering: July-August,
fruit type: capsule and ripens fruit, fruit shape: lay egg-shaped, fruit length: 2 cm, Bulb color: white, bulb shape: spherical, bulb diameter: 2 cm, uses: ornamental and vegetable (bulb).