On our recent trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway, I photographed a fantastic wild lily. Bill and I were driving along Rt. 56 between the Blue Ridge Parkway and Montebello, Virginia when I spotted a splash of red along a hillside. We were on our way to Crabtree Falls, so planned to stop back at the flower on our way back to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
On our first pass by the area where I’d seen the flower on our return trip, we didn’t see anything. So we turned around, and finally spotted the flower. Since there was no where to park, Bill dropped me off and proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes driving up and back this section of Rt 56 while I photographed the flower.
Then came the challenge of figuring out what it was that I’d been photographing. I knew it was a wild lily – but I didn’t think it would be too hard to identify. It was a red lily than hung down from the stem. The petals curved partway back. And the underside was spotted.
It turned out – that there wasn’t anything similar in any of my wildflower books. After some searching, I thought there was a good chance that it was a red variety of a Canada Lily – Lilium Canadense. The problem was – most online descriptions of Lilium Canadense – say that there are multiple stems and flowers (up to 20) on each plant. A little more research – and help from several wonderful friends on Twitter – I decided it really was a lilium canadense.
So here are the photos of a red Canada Lily.
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins
(c) 2009 Patty Hankins