Lilium pyrophilum M.W. Skinner & Sorrie. Sandhill Bog Lily, Fire Lily. Phen: Late Jul-mid Aug. Hab: Peaty sandhill seepage bogs in the fall-line Sandhills, streamhead canebrakes. Dist: Fall-line Sandhills region of NC, SC, and e. GA. Material from ne. NC and se. VA is questionable and probably better considered as Lilium superbum (W. Wall, pers. comm., 2016). Newly discovered material in GA appears to be L. pyrophilum.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Taxonomy Comments: See Skinner & Sorrie (2002) for detailed information on this species. Superficially, this plant is somewhat similar to L. michauxii, in its one to several, nodding flowers with recurved tepals, relatively few whorls of leaves, and relatively few leaves per whorl. In addition to the character used in the key, this plant differs from L. michauxii in the following ways: flowers not fragrant or only slightly so (vs. flowers strongly fragrant), leaves generally widest near the middle (vs. widest toward the tip), leaves only slightly paler below and lacking a pronounced waxy sheen (vs. leaves strongly bicolored, the lower surface much paler and with a waxy sheen), and habitat in sphagnous, peaty bogs (vs. in xeric to mesic, sandy to loamy soils).
Synonymy ⓘ: = FNA26, K4, Va, Skinner & Sorrie (2002); = n/a – C, F; < Lilium iridollae M.G.Henry – K1, misapplied; < Lilium michauxii Poir. – RAB, (misapplied to these plants)
Links to other floras: = Lilium pyrophilum - FNA26
Wetland Indicator Status:
Heliophily ⓘ: 8
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