Description
(Sasa-yuri or Bamboo Lily)
An extremely rare, woodland lily, endemic to Japan where it is found only on Honshu and Shikoku. There it is said to grow only on north facing slopes (which are usually cooler and damper in the northern hemisphere) amongst bamboo or in the shade of Rhododendron. It is found from sea level on some offshore islands, up to 1,000 m in the mountains.
It makes slender but tough and wiry stems, clothed on short broad foliage from 30-85 cm tall bearing one to several very highly fragrant, large, near white to very pale pink, bell-shaped flowers in June and July. The soft satin pink petals contrast beautifully with the bright red anthers. This plant just exudes grace, elegance and class and thankfully it largely maintains this class by refusing to hybridise with commoner species! It is best kept going from seed as it is not naturally a tremendously long-lived species.
Cultivation needs a cool, moist, well-drained soil, packed with humus but also draining freely. It likes cool humidity to be present in the atmosphere, it’s not one for sunshine or dry air. Light shade is best.
Raised from wild seed originally collected in Honshu, this is the true wild type, not the slightly white-variegated clone ‘Fukurin fu”.
