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Amaryllidaceae
Resurrection Lily
Lycoris squamigera
Magical reappearance.
- Family
- Amaryllidaceae
- Genus
- Lycoris
- Native to
- Japan, China
- Bloom season
- Late Summer
- Type
- bulb perennial
- Height
- 1.5-2.5 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun to part shade
- Soil
- well-drained, moderately fertile
- Water
- low to moderate
- Hardiness
- 5-9
- Lifespan
- perennial
Did you know
- Resurrection lily earns its name through a bizarre seasonal cycle: broad strap-like leaves emerge in spring, die back completely by early summer, and then 6–8 weeks later bare flower scapes shoot up from seemingly empty ground.
- This leafless flowering phenomenon also earns the plant the folk names 'naked lady,' 'mystery lily,' and 'surprise lily' — the sudden appearance of flowers from bare ground consistently startles gardeners who have forgotten the bulbs were there.
- In Japan, Lycoris species are called 'higanbana' and are traditionally planted in rice paddies and on grave sites because all parts are highly toxic — the alkaloids deter rats and moles from disturbing the soil.
- Lycoris squamigera was introduced to western horticulture when German physician Philip Franz von Siebold smuggled specimens out of Japan in the 1820s, an act technically illegal under Japan's strict isolation policy at the time.
- Despite being hardy to USDA zone 5, the bulbs are thought to be a natural hybrid between two wild Lycoris species that have never been found growing separately in the wild.
Color meanings
0
magic
1
mystery
2
resurrection