In a season where many of the wildflowers tend to be the daisies, asters and goldenrods of the open meadows, it is always a surprise and pleasure to come across the tall and showy Turk’s cap lily (Lilium superbum) rising from the rich soil and into the deep shade of a cove hardwood forest. This showy plant puts on a wonderful display, having as many as forty individual flowers blooming at the same time, all nodding their heads downward and swinging slightly from side to side in response to the lightest of breezes.
Its species name of superbum means “superb” and is an acknowledgment of the plant’s glamour and charm. The common name comes from the fact that the flower’s backward curving petals and sepals are thought to resemble a martagân, a turban-like cap worn by Turks in centuries past.
Members of the lily family were some of the first flowers to be recorded in history, and paintings of them have been found in palaces of ancient Greece, where it was considered the flower of Hera, goddess of the moon. A legend within the Christian faith says lilies developed from the tears Eve shed when she learned of her banishment from Eden.
However, there are few recorded medicinal or alimentary uses for the plant, except that in “The Maine Woods,” Henry David Thoreau wrote about the American Indians of New England adding the plant’s bulbs to soups.
Flower Fast Facts
FLOWER: The large (five inches in diameter), orange, nodding flowers have three petals and three sepals of the same size and color that curve sharply backward. A green line at the base of each forms a star where they meet. The projecting stamens are tipped with dangling anthers.
LEAVES AND STEM: The lanceolate leaves grow in whorls along a stem of three to seven feet in height.
BLOOM SEASON: July to August
About This Series
“Mountain Wildflowers” features a wildflower from the Blue Ridge region each month from March to October. Leonard M. Adkins has written for Blue Ridge Country for more than two decades and is the author of 20 books about travel, hiking and nature. His Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail, which received the prestigious National Outdoor Book Award, provides the photographs and some of the information he writes about in each “Mountain Wildflowers.” It and his other works may be obtained through his website.
