Hemerocallis fulva
Common name
day lily, orange day lily
Family
Hemerocallidaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Monocots
Conservation status
Not applicable
Brief description
Flowers yellow, red or orange, with single or double rows of petals (tepals); each flower remains open for a single day. Plant deciduous (summer-green); roots tuberous.
Reported to be of hybrid origin (see https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=180).
Detailed description
Large clump-forming, rhizome spreading. Leaves 40-70-(90x 1-3 cm, linear, equitant, later drooping, margins smooth. Inflorescence corymbose, to 15-flowered; scape stiff, bracteate, usually branched. Flowers 8-10 cm long, to 9 cm diam., widely funnel-shaped (often doubled), dull orange-red or yellow or red, strongly veined, not scented; pedicels short; bract scarious, <pedicel; perianth-tube very short; lobes recurved, inner broader with undulate margins. Ovary and ovules aborted (Healy and Edgar 1980).
“A 3-sectioned capsule is produced. Since this species is a hybrid, most plants do not produce seeds, but if produced, seeds are rarely viable.” https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weedguide/singlerecord.asp?id=180
Flowering
December-January
Flower colours
Orange, Red/Pink, Yellow
Life cycle
No seed produced. Spread by rhizomes.
Year naturalised
1958
Origin
Origin uncertain, cultivated for several centuries in Northern Hemisphere
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Etymology
hemerocallis: From the Greek hemeros ‘day’ and kallos ‘beauty’
fulva: Tawny yellow
Hemerocallis is sometimes placed in Family Xanthorrhoeaceae