Description
(sometimes seen as Lilium soulei, however the spelling (for Abbé Soulié), is souliei)
Lilium souliei (named for Abbé Soulié, though not, as a Lilium, until 1950!) The species was first described by Adrien René Franchet in 1898 as Fritillaria souliei, however Sealy recognised that it is not a Fritillaria, but a very unusual lily and transferred it from Fritillaria to Lilium, though even when you know it’s a Lilium it still looks for all the world just like a Fritillaria.
This is a dwarf species with a correspondingly very small, narrow, white bulb of only about 1-1.5 cm diameter, which is a little taller than it is wide. This makes a stem of 10-15 cm height (up to 30cm in shade) with scattered leaves, bearing a solitary flower of deep, polished, garnet red. This can be paler at the base and is often yellowish, even speckled a little, internally. The flower shape is very characteristic on this species and the strong, fruity scent is not one I have come across in other species.
Likes a very well-drained, but seasonally damp soil or compost rich in coarse peat and humus. It is best in half shade. A tad tricky and prone sometimes to winter rots if not kept on the dry side and this species is not for the average gardener sorry, this is more one for the discerning enthusiast who is already growing at least, for example, Lilium nanum and preferably one of the other Chinese winter-dry, alpine species.
The Flora of China suggests this grows in dwarf Rhododendron thickets and margins and on grassy slopes at 1200–1400 m in Sichuan, SE Xizang, Yunnan.
Picture 1 © Denis Barthel under licence, picture 2 & 3 Ernst Gügel under CC BY-SA 3.0 both with thanks.
soulei, soulii, soulie