How Do Lily Plants Reproduce?
Lily plants reproduce either sexually or vegetatively (asexually). In nature, birds and bees assist sexual vegetation, but either means can be facilitated by home gardeners interested in propagating their plants. Does this Spark an idea?
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Sexual reproduction
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Sexual reproduction requires that pollen be transferred to the stigma of the flower from the anthers of another species to cause fertilization; a lily cannot self-fertilize. The flower may form seeds that can be collected once the flower has dried out.
Vegetative reproduction
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Vegetative reproduction of lilies occurs when the bulbs of the plant are divided or the offshoot bulbs removed from the stem.
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Benefit of sexual reproduction
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Gardeners who are able to gather lily seeds will have access to as many new plants, as there are viable seeds that may number in the thousands, according to Ken Druse in "Making More Plants."
Benefit of vegetative reproduction
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Lilies that are divided by having their bulbs peeled or bulblets (small bulbs that form on the stalk of a mature plant) removed may yield flowers more quickly than plants grown from seed as they already have the nutrient base bulb plants need to form flowers.
Blooming after reproduction
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Lilies propagated from seeds may take two to four years to bloom, according to Eileen Powell in "The Gardener's A-Z Guide to Growing Flowers from Seed to Bloom." Lilies that are reproduced using vegetative division will take less time to bloom, but the time frame will depend on whether a scale was taken or an offshoot bulb gathered.
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- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Powi) (Per Ola Wiberg
