Tiger Lily

Description

Lilium lancifolium (syn. L. tigrinum) is an Asian species of lily, native to China, Japan, Korea, and the Russian Far East. It is widely planted as an ornamental because of its showy orange-and-black flowers, and has become naturalized in numerous scattered locations in eastern North America (particularly in New England). It is one of several species of lily to which the common name tiger lily is applied, and some regard this the correct species to which the name should be applied. Botanists for many years considered L. tigrinum the correct scientific name until it was determined that older name L. lancifolium refers to the same species. Under the rules of international botanical nomenclature, the older name takes precedence.