Leopard Lily Belamcanda chinensis
LATIN NAME: Iris domestica
COMMON NAME: Leopard Lily
The leopard lily opens its orange, spotted flowers in the late summer, and the small, fan-shaped leaves spread along the stems. The upright, branching, perennial plant carries the narrow, sword-shaped, iris-like leaves and the loose clusters of the orange, red-spotted, six-petalled flowers through the late summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the border, each flower lasting for the single day but the buds opening in the steady succession. The plant has a long record in the old practice of the warm East, and it is a fine, historic presence of the border. It is a plant of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, well-drained ground.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The leopard lily is a curious subject of the plant science, and the spotted flowers keep showing up in the work on the iris-family perennials. The way the orange, red-spotted, six-petalled flowers open in the steady succession through the late summer has been studied closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the iris-family perennials, the day-flowering plants and the members of the iris family. The sword-shaped leaves and the branching habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the leopard lily is a regular subject of the work on the spotted flowers of the warm world.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
The leopard lily is a fine, bright plant of the border and the wild patch. The loose clusters of the orange, red-spotted, six-petalled flowers open through the late summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the border, drawing the bees, with the buds opening in the steady succession through the weeks, and the plant has a long record in the old practice of the warm East. It is one of the fine choices for the border, the wild patch and the study collection, and it has been written about in the botanical and the horticultural papers for the spotted flowers and the steady ways. It is a fine, bright plant of the open, sunny to lightly shaded, deep, well-drained garden.
Give the young plants the light shade and the deep soil, and the spotted flowers will come in the second season.
To grow the leopard lily from seed, sow the round, black seeds just below the surface of the pot of gritty soil, keep the pot in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings thread up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun or the light shade and the deep, well-drained ground, the spotted flowers will open through the late summer.
Uses: Medicinal
Chinese medicinal. Attractive orange-yellow flowers with red-purple spots. Used for throat conditions, cough, wheezing, bronchitis and mumps.