blackberry lily

not listed

NNA - Not applicable

not listed

Blackberry lily is an erect, 12″ to 40″ tall, perennial forb that rises on a cluster of basal leaves and a leafy stem from a thickened crown at the base of the plant, underground stems (rhizomes), and fibrous roots. The rhizomes are shallow, stout, orangish-yellow, and creeping. It sometimes forms dense colonies.

Basal leaves are linear, green to grayish-green, 12″ to 24″ long, and ⅜″ to ¾″ wide. They are half as long to as long as the flowering stem. The basal third to half of the leaf is folded longitudinally, the remainder flat. The tip is sharply pointed. The leaf blade is parallel-veined and lacks a prominent midvein. The upper and lower surfaces are hairless and covered with a whitish, waxy bloom (glaucous). The margins are untoothed. Basal leaves are often spread out fan-like. Stem leaves are arranged alternately in two overlapping ranks. They are shorter, stalkless, and narrowly lance-shaped to linear, but otherwise similar to basal leaves.

The stem is erect or ascending, pale green, hairless, glaucous, round in cross section, and 24″ to 40″ long. It usually has 3 to 5 branches but may be unbranched.

The inflorescence is a flattened, branched cluster (cyme) of 3 to 6 large flowers at the end of each branch. A pair of modified leaves (bracts) subtend each node of the inflorescence.

The flowers are 1¼″ to 2″ in diameter and have a ⅝″ to ¾″ long stalk. They are semi-erect or horizontal – they do not hang downward. There are 3 petals, 3 petal-like sepals (6 tepals), 3 stamens, and 1 style. The tepals are lance-shaped, ⅝″to 1⅜″ long, fused and ascending at the base, but separated and widely spreading for most of their length. They are orangish-red to orange with large, irregularly scattered, red to brownish-purple spots. A yellow version is available in cultivation. The sepals are slightly longer than the petals. The stamens have yellow to orange, ⅜″ to ½″ long filaments; and yellow, ¼″ to 5 ⁄16″ long anthers. The style is 3-angled near the base, thickened in the upper half, and split into 3 branches at the tip. The flowers bloom from dawn to dusk and last only a single day. Within each cluster only a single flower blooms at a time. At the end of the day they curl up on a tight spiral, appearing like what has been described as a wrung-out dishcloth. The flowers are not fragrant.

The fruit is a green, egg-shaped, 1″ to 13 ⁄16″ long, ⅜″ to ¾″ in diameter capsule with 3 longitudinal lobes. When ripe it splits open along 3 fissures to reveal blackberry-like masses of round, shiny, black seeds.

12″ to 40″

Orange with red or purple spots

Michigan lily (Lilium michiganense) is much taller, 3′ to 6′ at maturity. The leaves are whorled except near the top, where they are single, in pairs, or in partial whorls. The flowers are much larger, 2½″ to 3″ wide, and hang downward. They are Turk’s-cap shaped, with tepals that bend backward to their base.

Wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum var. andinum) upper stem leaves are whorled.

Moist to dry. Hillsides, pastures, woodland openings, thickets, roadsides, old fields, old homesteads, disturbed areas. Full or partial sun.

June to July

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 22, 24, 29, 30.

Native to Asia. Introduced, cultivated, and escaped cultivation. Naturalized.

Uncommon

Prior to 2005, the scientific name of blackberry lily was Belamcanda chinensis. It was the sole species in that genus. In that year, based on molecular DNA analysis, it was transferred to the genus Iris, and became Iris domestica. Some online sources, including USDA PLANTS, BONAP, EDDMapS, NatureServe, and FNA, and closer to home, Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas, retain the old name.

Found on edge of new development in Stillwater, MN

Plant

Inflorescence

Flower

Basal Leaves

Location: Stillwater, MN

Found on edge of new development in Stillwater, MN

Location: Barn Bluff Trail, Red Wing MN