Tiger Lilies

A charming tale from Korea tells of how the Tiger Lily spread. Badly wounded by a hunter's arrow, a tiger sought the help of a hermit. The arrow was successfully removed,  and the wounded animal recovered. The tiger and the hermit became fast friends. When the big cat felt death was nigh, he requested the hermit to use his powers to continue their friendship in the afterlife.

Thus, it came about that when the tiger died, he was transformed into a Tiger Lily. His companion the hermit was not so blessed. Drowning on a flood, his body was washed away. Ever since, the Tiger Lily has been searching for him. In truth, Lilium lancifolium, once perhaps more poetically known as L. tigrinum, is native to Korea – along with China, Japan and the Russian Far East. The disciple Matthew might have been speaking of them when he directed, "Consider the lilies of the field, they toiled not neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one." Only he wasn't. The West had to wait until 1804 when a collector from Kew dispatched back the first bulbs. The Tiger Lily spread rapidly. In North America its affinity for moist soils and riverine habitats enabled it to escape cultivation. So widely is it now naturalized that it has been rudely referred to as the Ditch Lily, even the Devil Lily. More kindly, and indicative of its continental habitat, it has been variously called Oregon Lily, Leopard Lily, Pine Lily, Columbia Lily, Western Red Lily, and Western Wood Lily. The Tiger Lily has long been cultivated in China, Korea and Japan. Perhaps it was the earliest of all lilies to enter into horticulture, not as an ornamental but for its edible bulbs. Outside its homeland, it is more often raised for its decorative value and sweet scent. Planted in full sun in rich, well-drained but constantly moist loam in the autumn, it asks nothing more than, like most lilies, to be left undisturbed. For this reason, the top of the bulb should be seven centimetres below the surface. The red, spotted blooms are born on stems 80 to 200 centimetres, making an impressive sight.  Despite folklore, sniffing a Tiger Lily flower will not cause freckles. It may, though, like all lilies by fatal to felines.