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Hemerocallis
Also called Day Lilies, Day Lily, Daylilies
Daylilies are clump-forming perennials from the genus Hemerocallis, native to eastern Asia, grown mainly for their showy, short-lived flowers. Grown in full sun with ordinary soil, they are among the easiest garden perennials and this entry covers commonly grown cultivars.
A daylily, day lily or ditch-lily is a flowering plant in the genus Hemerocallis , a member of the family Asphodelaceae, subfamily Hemerocallidoideae, native to Asia. Despite the common name, it is not taxonomically classified in the lily genus. Gardening enthusiasts and horticulturists have long bred Hemerocallis species for their attractive flowers; a select few species of the genus have edible petals, while some are extremely toxic. Thousands of cultivars have been registered by the American Daylily Society, the only internationally recognized registrant according to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. The plants are perennial, whose common name alludes to its flowers, which typically last about a day.
As popular as daylilies were for many hundreds of years, it was not until the late 19th century that botanists and gardeners began to experiment with hybridizing the plants. Over the next hundred years, thousands of different hybrids were developed from only a few wild varieties. In fact, most modern hybrids are descended from two types of daylily. One is Hemerocallis flava—the yellow lemon lily. The other is Hemerocallis fulva, the familiar tawny-orange daylily, also known affectionately as the "ditch lily".
The daylily has been nicknamed "the perfect perennial" by gardeners, due to its brilliant colors, ability to tolerate drought and frost and to thrive in many different climate zones, and for being generally low maintenance. It is a vigorous perennial that lasts for many years in a garden, with very little care and adapts to many different soil and light conditions. Daylilies have a relatively short blooming period, depending on the type. Some will bloom in early spring while others wait until the summer or even autumn.
Eating too many uncooked flowers of some species can cause diarrhea. Hemerocallis species are toxic to cats and ingestion may be fatal. Treatment is usually successful if started before kidney failure has developed.
Hemerocallis species are native to Asia, primarily eastern Asia, including China, Korea, Japan and southern Siberia. This genus is popular worldwide because of the showy flowers and hardiness of many kinds. There are over 80,000 registered cultivars. Hundreds of cultivars have fragrant flowers, and more scented cultivars are appearing more frequently in northern hybridization programs. Some earlier blooming cultivars rebloom later in the season, particularly if their capsules, in which seeds are developing, are removed.
Daylilies are an economically important group of plants used medicinally, as food, and as horticultural plants. They have been cultivated in East Asia starting in China for thousands of years. Hemerocallin, a root neurotoxin, has been used as poison and therapeutically as part of traditional oriental medicine. Some flowers of certain species such as Hemerocallis citrina are used in Chinese cuisine. They are sold fresh or dried in Asian markets as gum jum (金针 in Chinese; pinyin: jīn zhēn) or yellow flower vegetables (黃花菜 in Chinese; pinyin: huáng huā cài). These are used in hot and sour soup, daylily soup (金針花湯), Buddha's delight, and moo shu pork. The tubers and young leaves of H. fulva can be eaten raw or cooked. The flowers are more palatable upon cooking.
Citron daylily · Orange daylily · Lemon day-lily · Amur daylily · Small daylily
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Daylily by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
