The beautiful upright, flaring cups of the Wood Lily, appearing like the flaming torches of classical Rome, enlighten our upland meadows, dry woods and thicket borders during June and July. It ranks among our most showy and attractive flowers. The single, smooth and slender stalk is leafy above the middle, and grows from one to three feet tall, from a bulb of narrow-jointed, fleshy scales. The thin, smooth and narrow lance-shaped leaves taper toward either end, and are stemless and finely rough-margined. They occur in whorls of from three to eight at regular intervals along the stalk, or a few of them alternate on it. From one to five large, reddish orange or flame-coloured flowers spring erectly from the top of the stalk on separate stems. The neck of each flower-bell is distinctly opened by the sudden narrowing of the lower part of each of the six separate, partly flared and curved, petal-like parts, into slender, stemlike bases. Each part broadens decidedly toward the end, and finally tapers to a blunt tip. Within, on the upper parts of the divisions, the colouring becomes more intense, and, at some distance from the tips is spotted with dark purple and tinged with yellow. The six long pink stamens and pistil have brown tips, and add greatly to the attractiveness of the blossom. This magnificent Lily is found from Maine to Ontario, and south to North Carolina and west to Virginia.
RED LILY. WOOD LILY. Lilium philadelphicum.