Species
+

Lilium formosanum A.Wallace

Formosa lily, Formosan lily, Saint Joseph's Lily, St Joseph's Lily

Climate known 71 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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 formosanum, also known as the Formosa lily or Taiwanese lily, is a plant species in the lily family, endemic to Taiwan. It is closely related to the Easter lily found in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan, eastern and northern Taiwan. Both species are cultivated for their showy, trumpet-shaped flowers. Lilium formosanum has become naturalized in scattered locations in Africa, Australia, and the Americas.

Text from Wikipedia, “Lilium formosanum”, 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.

Family
Liliaceae
Described by
A.Wallace
Native to
Taiwan
Wild records
468 in range· 64 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Jul, mean day; nights 23 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
3060mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 475 mm (CHELSA)
Light
17–37DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Liliaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 3060 mm a year, wettest September at 475 mm, driest December at 80 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 37 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 7.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Lilium formosanum var. formosanum; Lilium formosanum var. microphyllum T.S.Liu & S.S.Ying; Lilium formosanum var. pricei Stoker; Lilium longiflorum var. formosanum Baker; Lilium philippinense subsp. formosanum (Wallace) E.H.Wilson and 3 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 summer growing season, May to October in the northern hemisphere (May to October at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (2242 mm of 3060 mm) falls in May to October, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 24.4 °C against a yearly mean of 20.7 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to April.

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 3060 mm a year, wettest September at 475 mm, driest December at 80 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

3060 mm a year at the habitat, 2242 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 475 mm, driest December at 80 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 2196 mm to 4354 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: 17 to 37 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 37 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 13, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

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 7.6 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 7.6 °C, the absolute minimum 2.8 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.1 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 10.9 °C in January (across the envelope cells 3.2 °C to 14.5 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 7.6 °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.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 63 to 67% 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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 17 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Jul; mean night from 11 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 3060 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 217 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 2.8 °C and the 99th-percentile day 33.1 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°20°30°40°33.1° 99th-percentile day (undated)2.8° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0200400600800mm rainDLI 17–37RH 63–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 217 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C17 / 10–1917 / 12–2020 / 14–2223 / 17–2525 / 18–2727 / 20–2928 / 21–3027 / 21–3026 / 19–2824 / 17–2621 / 15–2318 / 11–20
Night °C11 / 3–1512 / 5–1514 / 7–1717 / 10–2020 / 12–2322 / 13–2523 / 14–2623 / 14–2621 / 13–2519 / 11–2216 / 8–2013 / 4–16
Rain mm84 / 45–246168 / 111–293179 / 131–244205 / 151–260334 / 261–456405 / 292–605388 / 228–595433 / 271–623475 / 266–611207 / 59–535102 / 40–41080 / 41–264
DLI18 / 13–2220 / 15–2525 / 21–3029 / 27–3331 / 29–3433 / 30–3437 / 34–3933 / 31–3529 / 27–3125 / 22–2920 / 16–2417 / 13–21
RH %64 / 60–7265 / 62–7265 / 63–7165 / 63–7166 / 64–7166 / 63–7066 / 64–6967 / 65–7067 / 65–7166 / 62–7164 / 61–7163 / 59–71

Each figure is the median across the 217 grid cells holding the 452 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 1301:6028 (24.925, 121.425). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 2.8 °C, 1st-percentile night 7.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.1 °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 217 distinct grid cells holding the 452 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1301:6028 (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 25.00_121.250, lapse-corrected -47 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 182 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTaiwan· introduced: Zaïre, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Provinces, Japan, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand North, Florida, Louisiana, Brazil Southeast
Kew's description“bulbous geophyte” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker24.418, 121.299 · in the densest population, 442 records (94% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 468 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 64 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 969 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 16 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 468 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Lilium formosanumLilium formosanumLilium formosanumLilium formosanumLilium formosanumLilium formosanumLilium formosanumLilium formosanum

Photographs: (c) James K. Douch, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Arnim Littek, some rights reserved (CC BY) (6); (c) Cheng-Te Hsu, some rights reserved (CC BY).

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 formosanum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Lifeact-mEGFP Reveals a Dynamic Apical F-Actin Network in Tip Growing Plant Cells
Luis Vidali, Caleb M. Rounds, Peter K. Hepler, Magdalena Bezanilla (2009) · PLoS ONE
Propidium Iodide Competes with Ca2+ to Label Pectin in Pollen Tubes and Arabidopsis Root Hairs
Caleb M. Rounds, Eric Lubeck, Peter K. Hepler, Lawrence J. Winship (2011) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Exocytosis Precedes and Predicts the Increase in Growth in Oscillating Pollen Tubes
Sylvester T. McKenna, Joseph G. Kunkel, Maurice Bosch, Caleb M. Rounds (2009) · The Plant Cell
Oscillatory Increases in Alkalinity Anticipate Growth and May Regulate Actin Dynamics in Pollen Tubes of Lily
Alenka Lovy, Joseph G. Kunkel, Ellen G. Allwood, Patrick J. Hussey (2006) · The Plant Cell
NAD(P)H Oscillates in Pollen Tubes and Is Correlated with Tip Growth
Luis Cárdenas, Sylvester T. McKenna, Joseph G. Kunkel, Peter K. Hepler (2006) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Effect of extracellular calcium, pH and borate on growth oscillations in Lilium formosanum pollen tubes
Terena L. Holdaway‐Clarke, N. M. Weddle, Sung Joon Kim, A. Robi (2003) · Journal of Experimental Botany
THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHIASMATA AND CROSSING OVER IN LILIUM FORMOSANUM
Spencer W. Brown, Daniel Zohary (1955) · Genetics
The Apical Actin Fringe Contributes to Localized Cell Wall Deposition and Polarized Growth in the Lily Pollen Tube
Caleb M. Rounds, Peter K. Hepler, Lawrence J. Winship (2014) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
Does Specialized Pollination Impede Plant Invasions?
James G. Rodger, Mark van Kleunen, Steven D. Johnson (2010) · International Journal of Plant Sciences
Oscillatory Growth in Lily Pollen Tubes Does Not Require Aerobic Energy Metabolism
Caleb M. Rounds, Peter K. Hepler, Sasha J. Fuller, Lawrence J. Winship (2009) · PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

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.

Other Lilium 5 in the reference

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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 62 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.