Michigan Lily

Lilium michigaenese appears in mid July in moist areas such as along shores, wet ditches and meadows, bogs and edges of woods as long as there is plenty of sun, or part shade. At the end of the terminal leaves, each plant produces 1 to 6 flower stalks with each individual flower on the end of its own flower stalk. Flower stalks are 4 to 6 inches long.

Leaves grow in whorls around the stem in group of 3 – 7, though some upper leaves appear in pairs or alternately. Leaves are lance-like, narrow at less than 1″ wide, and can grow up to 5 inches long. The stem is round and smooth.

The flowers of this plant greatly resemble those of nonnative tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium), but there are some differences between the 2 to help with ID. One is that tiger lily leaves rise alternately up the stem, while Michigan lily leaves are whorled, especially at the bottom. Also, tiger lily produces dark black-purple bulblets in the leaf axils along the stem. Michigan lily has no bulblets.

Apparently, Michigan lily has some trouble persisting over time in the same area. I have found this to be true when I look for the bright orange colors to pop out from a particular road side ditch, and then find after a few years it is gone.  I found this single plant with 2 flowers in a ‘new’ roadside ditch area some miles away, and was happy to see them again!