Lilium candidum L.
Běła lilija, Madonna Lily, açucena-branca, lilija belaja
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Lilium candidum, the Madonna lily or white lily, is a plant in the true lily family. It is native to the Balkans and Middle East, and naturalized in other parts of Europe, including France, Italy, and Ukraine, and in North Africa, the Canary Islands, Mexico, and other regions. It has been cultivated since antiquity, for at least 3,000 years, and has great symbolic value since then for many cultures. It is susceptible to several virus diseases common to lilies, and especially to Botrytis fungus. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Lilium candidum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Lilium
Lilium is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are native to the Northern Hemisphere and their range is temperate climates and extends into the subtropics. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Lilium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Lilium album Houtt.; Lilium candidum f. peregrinum (Mill.) Voss; Lilium candidum f. striatum (Baker) Voss; Lilium candidum subsp. peregrinum (Mill.) Baker; Lilium candidum var. aureomarginatum Elwes and 16 more.
Cultivation
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Liliaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.
Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to April in the northern hemisphere (October to April at the habitat, northern).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (616 mm of 822 mm) falls in October to April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 9.8 °C against a yearly mean of 14.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to October.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 822 mm a year, wettest December at 120 mm, driest July at 28 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
822 mm a year at the habitat, 616 mm of it October to April. Wettest month December at 120 mm, driest July at 28 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 560 mm to 1231 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 45 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 45 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor -3.3 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -3.3 °C, the absolute minimum -8.0 °C, about 22 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.3 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 2.1 °C in February (across the envelope cells -3.2 °C to 8.1 °C), warmest day 27.5 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -3.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 55 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 9 / 4–13 | 9 / 6–14 | 12 / 9–16 | 16 / 13–20 | 20 / 18–24 | 24 / 22–28 | 27 / 24–31 | 28 / 24–31 | 23 / 21–28 | 19 / 16–25 | 14 / 10–19 | 10 / 5–15 |
| Night °C | 2 / -4–8 | 2 / -3–8 | 4 / -1–10 | 8 / 3–12 | 13 / 8–16 | 17 / 12–20 | 20 / 14–23 | 20 / 14–23 | 16 / 11–21 | 12 / 7–17 | 7 / 2–13 | 4 / -2–10 |
| Rain mm | 91 / 45–201 | 78 / 41–141 | 74 / 46–114 | 59 / 35–96 | 50 / 11–80 | 43 / 2–80 | 28 / 2–61 | 31 / 1–62 | 54 / 5–99 | 76 / 42–135 | 118 / 62–200 | 120 / 63–208 |
| DLI | 13 / 10–18 | 18 / 16–24 | 26 / 24–32 | 34 / 31–40 | 40 / 37–47 | 45 / 41–50 | 45 / 40–48 | 40 / 36–44 | 30 / 26–37 | 20 / 18–28 | 13 / 11–20 | 10 / 8–16 |
| RH % | 61 / 58–65 | 60 / 57–63 | 59 / 57–61 | 58 / 55–61 | 57 / 54–60 | 56 / 51–61 | 55 / 49–62 | 55 / 51–63 | 58 / 53–61 | 60 / 57–63 | 61 / 56–64 | 62 / 58–66 |
Each figure is the median across the 120 grid cells holding the 245 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1140:4307 (32.975, 35.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.0 °C, 1st-percentile night -3.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.3 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 120 distinct grid cells holding the 245 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1140:4307 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 33.00_35.625, lapse-corrected +472 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 864 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Christoph Moning, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Ioannis Magouras, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Julia Moning, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Kostas Zontanos, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Lilium candidum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Lathyrus odoratus Guisante de Olor
Euphorbia rigida Upright Myrtle Spurge
Anemone coronaria Lilies of the field
Soleirolia soleirolii Corsican carpet
Malva sylvestris Common Mallow
Teucrium fruticans Shrubby GermanderOther Lilium 5 in the reference
Lilium bulbiferum Orange lily
Lilium formosanum Formosa lily
Lilium lancifolium Devil Lily
Lilium longiflorum Easter Lily
Lilium martagon Martagon Lily History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 99 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.