Description
Lilium akkusianum is a rare species, known from a handful of localities in Beech groves and forest margins at around 900 m, near Akkus, e. Turkey. It was described in 1998 by Rene Gämperle from plants discovered in 1993 by Zaiss and Gugel (Quart. Bull. Alp. Gard. Soc. Band 66, Nr. 3, 1998, pp. 378–389). It makes smallish, white bulbs about 5-6 cm across which in turn make stems of 60 cm, clothed in hairy edged leaves.
There are 1-6 large flowers (25 are recorded in the wild). The buds are hairy at the tips and open to palest yellow, very fragrant, nodding trumpet flowers with quite a long tube at the base of the petals. The flowers rapidly turn white. They are contrasted with spickles of deep purple in the yellow throat which contrasts beautifully with the bright red anthers.
A very narrow and restricted endemic, part of the monadelphum complex but clearly distinct and easily separated even from its relatives by bulb colour, scent, flower shape, flower colour and pollen colour amongst other factors! Though I have read that this is a difficult species, I do not find it so at all. It has been here now for a good twelve years or so, the same three parent bulbs (bought for a small fortune from a retiring Czech enthusiast). The two survivors (for we lost one when trying to scale it) come up each year, it flowers well and both remaining bulbs set fertile seed even on their own pollen. In short this is not that difficult at all but I do find it exceedingly slow to make any size. It is grown in a raised bed, with other plants, in a well-drained, south-facing site where it is partially shaded over the roots and lower growth, for part of the day.
These are five-year old seedlings from our own, hand-pollinated seed, in turn raised from our 2-3 bulbs. They are still young bulbs, as I stress again that this is very slow to make size initially, very very slow and so you do not get a lot for your money I’m afraid, reflecting the initial cost of the parents, one loss and five years of patient growing. They average about 1cm across their largest diameter
First offered November 2020
