Country: USA
State/District: MI
County:
Date: 1978

Photographer: E. M. Barrows

Identifier: E. M. Barrows
Collector: not applicable
Location:
Keywords: A orange flower pink flower pollination pollinator red flower yellow flower
Additional Information:

In 1977–1978, I studied pollination of the Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) in Northern Michigan.   I found a population of hundreds of plants in a human-made forest opening in a wet area.   Their flowers showed marked color and morphological variation.   There were orange, pink, and yellow variations.   One orange plant even had flowers with no spots.   I don’t know if other people have seen some of the color variations in nature.   In 2003, I returned to the field site during the blooming season of this species to examine the status of the population and take some digital images of the plants.   Unfortunately, people had graded the land in the opening, and all of the Lilies were gone.   A burst of color microevolution occurred, then went extinct.   I gave a short PowerPoint presentation using images (made from 35-mm color slides) of these Lilies at a meeting of the Botanical Society of Washington on 2 September 2003.

E. M. B. (September 2003)

Reference

Barrows, E. M.   1979.   Floral biology and arthropod associates of Lilium philadelphicum.   Michigan Botanist 18: 109–116.

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Please, click on images to enlarge them.   These images are scanned from 35-mm slides.