In Ireland this lily is the national emblem of the Orangemen; and when travelling in that country you can tell, so we have been assured, the political opinion of the owner of a house by observing what lilies he grows in his garden. The Orangemen are said to grow none but the orange lily, while the rest of the population cultivate only the Madonna lily (L. Candidum).
A variety of L. Croceum named Chauixi is of a bright yellow colour, and is finer than the type.
This lily is found wild in various parts of Central Europe. It has been in cultivation for centuries; but lately it has almost lost its place as a garden lily, having been discarded in favour of some of the varieties of L. Davuricum, which are much cheaper, but nothing like so fine.
The term L. Umbellatum is applied to certain varieties and possibly hybrids of L. Croceum and L. Davuricum.
A very similar species is Lilium Davuricum, a native of Siberia. The wild plant rarely bears more than two blossoms on each stem; but in cultivation flower-spikes of twenty or more blossoms are not uncommon.
L. Davuricum is frequently grown in gardens. There is a large number of named varieties of this lily, but all the forms are very similar, and in no way deserve separate names. The plant grows to about four feet high, and produces from four to thirty flowers of a dirty orange colour.
Lilium Bulbiferum very much resembles the lilies we have just mentioned, but it may be at once distinguished from any other Isolirion by the bulblets which are formed in the axils of the leaves. These bulblets are large and purple in colour. Not very uncommonly bulblets form in the axils of the leaves of L. Davuricum or L. Elegans; but when they do, they are small and green.
The blossoms of L. Bulbiferum are like those of L. Davuricum on a smaller scale. The same upright position, the same poorness of form, and the same dirty orange colour, which is so persistent among the members of the group Isolirion, are present in both. But the blossoms of L. Bulbiferum are distinctly smaller than are those of L. Davuricum.
If the lilies we have just described are not particularly remarkable for beauty, they are, nevertheless, very desirable subjects for the flower garden. They are showy, extremely hardy, flower in early June, when showy flowers are rare, and readily increase when once established. L. Elegans looks best planted in rows and borders, its low growth suiting it admirably for such treatment.
These lilies will grow anywhere, in any soil. A little peat and sand should be mixed with the soil in which these lilies are planted.