Everything about Daylily totally explained
Daylilies comprise the small
genus Hemerocallis of flowering plants in the family
Hemerocallidaceae. They are not true lilies which are
Lilium in
Liliaceae.
Description
These plants are
Perennial. The name
Hemerocallis comes from the
Greek words ἡμέρα (hēmera) "day" and καλός (kalos) "beautiful". The flowers of most species open at sunrise and wither at sunset, possibly replaced by another one on the same stem the next day. Some species are night-blooming. Daylilies are not commonly used as cut flowers for formal
flower arranging, yet they make good cut flowers otherwise as new flowers continue to open on cut stems over several days.
Originally native from
Europe to
China,
Korea, and
Japan, their large showy flowers have made them popular worldwide. There are over 60,000 registered
cultivars. Only a few cultivars are scented. Some cultivars rebloom later in the season, particularly if their developing seedpods are removed.
Daylilies occur as a clump including leaves, the crown, and the roots. The long, often linear
lanceolate leaves are grouped into
opposite flat fans with leaves arching out to both sides. The crown of a daylily is the small white portion between the leaves and the roots, an essential part of the fan. Along the flower stem or
scape, small leafy "proliferations" may form at
nodes or in
bracts. These proliferations form roots when planted and are the exact
clones of the parent plant. Some daylilies show elongated widenings along the roots, made by the plant mostly for water storage and an indication of good health.
The flower consists of three
petals and three
sepals, collectively called
tepals, each with a
midrib in the same or in a contrasting color. The centermost section of the flower, called the throat, has usually a different and contrasting color. There are six
stamens, each with a two-lobed
anther. After
pollination, the flower forms a pod.
Daylilies can be grown in USDA plant
hardiness zones 1 through 11, making them some of the most adaptable
landscape plants. Most of the cultivars have been developed within the last 100 years. The large-flowered clear yellow 'Hyperion', introduced in the 1920s, heralded a return to gardens of the once-dismissed daylily, and is still widely available. Daylily
breeding has been a specialty in the United States, where their heat- and drought-resistance made them garden standbys during the later 20th century. New cultivars have sold for thousands of dollars, but sturdy and prolific introductions soon reach reasonable prices.
Tawny Daylily Hemerocallis fulva, and sweet-scented
H. lilioasphodelus (
H. flava is an illegitimate name), colloquially called Lemon Lily, were early imports from England to 17th century American gardens and soon established themselves. Tawny Daylily is so widely growing wild that it's often considered a native wildflower. It is called Roadside or Railroad Daylily, and gained the nickname Wash-house or Outhouse Lily because it was frequently planted at such buildings.
Hemerocallis is one of the most hybridized of all garden plants, with registrations of new hybrids being made in the thousands each year in the search for new traits. Hybridizers have extended the plant's color range from the yellow, orange, and pale pink of the species, to vibrant reds, purples, lavenders, greenish tones, near-black, near-white, and more. However, a blue daylily is a milestone yet to be reached.
Other flower traits that hybridizers develop include height, scent, ruffled edges, contrasting "eyes" in the center of the bloom, and an illusion of glitter or "diamond dust." Sought-after improvements in foliage include color, variegation, disease resistance, the ability to form large, neat clumps and being evergreen or semi-evergreen instead of
herbaceous (also known as "dormant" — the foliage dies back during the winter.)
A recent trend in hybridizing is to focus on
tetraploid plants, with thicker petal substance and sturdier stems. Until this trend took root, nearly all daylilies were
diploid. "Tets," as they're called by aficionados, have double the number of chromosomes as a diploid plant. Only one cultivar is known to be
triploid, the brilliant orange 'Kwanzo' or 'Kwanso,' which can't set seed and is reproduced solely by underground runners (
stolons) and division. Usually referred to as a "double," meaning producing flowers with double the usual number of petals (
for example, daylily 'Double Grapette'), 'Kwanzo' actually produces triple the usual number of petals.
Culinary use
The flowers of some species are edible and are used in
Chinese cuisine. They are sold (fresh or dried) in
Asian markets as
gum jum or
golden needles (in
Chinese; pinyin: jīnzhēn) or
yellow flower vegetables (in
Chinese; pinyin: huánghuācài). They are used in
hot and sour soup, daylily soup (金針花湯),
Buddha's delight, and
moo shu pork. The young green leaves and the
tubers of some (but not all) species are also edible. The plant has also been used for medicinal purposes.
Species
This is a list of
species, not of
cultivars, which number in the thousands:
Further Information
Get more info on 'Daylily'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://daylily.totallyexplained.com">Daylily Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
