A New Cultivar of the Asiatic Hybrid Lily, ‘Li-9’, with Multiple Scapes and Small Flowers

T. Oomiya and M. Ubukata Hokkaido Ornamental and Vegetables Research Center 735 Higashi-takikawa, Takikawa, Hokkaido, 073-0026 Japan

H. Tamagake Hokkaido Central Agricultural Experiment Station Kita 15, Higashi 6 Naganuma, Hokkaido, 069-1395 Japan

S. Tsutsui Hokkaido Genetic Resources Center 363-2 Minami-takinokawa, Takikawa, Hokkaido, 073-0013 Japan

Keywords: Asiatic hybrid lily ‘Mona’, interspecific hybrid, concolor var. pulchellum, multiple scapes, small flowers

Abstract A new cultivar of the Asiatic hybrid lily, ‘Li-9’, has been produced by cut-style pollination between the Asiatic hybrid lily ‘Mona’ and Lilium concolor var. pulchellum, and embryo culture. This cultivar needs about 65 days to flower when chilled bulbs are planted in May. The flower of this cultivar is about 9 cm in diameter, and the is vivid reddish-orange with small dark-brown spots. The scape height is about 80 cm, and the flowers are near-vertically attached to the stem. The raceme inflorescence is compact, and thus this cultivar may be suitable for flower arrangement in domestic uses and small bouquets. This cultivar produces multiple scapes per bulb. A bulb of 12 cm or more in circumference commonly produces 3 flowers per scape. Bulbs of 14 cm or more in circumference produce 5 flowers per scape. ‘Li-9’ can be propagated effectively by scaling. About 80% of bulbs obtained 2 years after scaling are 12 cm or more in circumference and usable for cut flower production.

INTRODUCTION AND BREEDING OBJECTIVE Hokkaido is located at the northern end of Japan, and is the second largest island in Japan after the main island of Honsyu. In Hokkaido, lily production has gradually shifted from bulb production to cut flower production since 1990’s. At present, the growing area for lily cut flowers is about 80 ha, and lilies are the most important cut flower crop in Hokkaido. Recently, with the diversification of the preference for flowers, demands for new lily cultivars with various characteristics have increased. Although numerous lily cultivars have so far been bred all over the world, almost all of them have large flowers. Therefore, we have produced a new cultivar named ‘Li-9’, which has multiple scapes and small flowers. Here, we report the breeding process and horticultural characterization of this cultivar.

BREEDING PROCESS ‘Mona’, which is the most popular Asiatic hybrid lily cultivar for cut flower production in Hokkaido, was used as the seed parent. Lilium concolor var. pulchellum, which is distributed in the Korean Peninsula and the Amur region (Shimizu, 1987), was used as the pollen parent. Cut-style pollination and subsequent embryo culture were carried out in 1994. Totally 16 hybrids were obtained, from which ‘Li-9’ was selected for the flower size and shape, plant form, and propagation efficiency.

Proc. IXth Intl. Symp. on Flower Bulbs 559 Eds.: H. Okubo, W.B. Miller and G.A. Chastagner Acta Hort. 673, ISHS 2005 CHARACTERIZATION

Flower The flower of ‘Li-9’ is about 9 cm in diameter, which is larger than L. concolor var. pulchellum but much smaller than ‘Mona’ (Table 1, Fig. 1). The flower shape is similar to that of the Asiatic hybrid lily cultivars. The is vivid reddish-orange in color with small dark-brown spots and reflexed slightly. Differently from L. concolor var. pulchellum, flowers have no nasty smell. The pollen color is deep reddish-orange, which is similar to that of L. concolor var. pulchellum.

Plant Form The scape height of flowering plants is about 80 cm, and the flowers are near-vertically attached to the stem (Table 1, Fig. 2). The peduncle is about 4.5 cm long, which is shorter than that of both parents. ‘Li-9’ develops about 4 scapes per bulb, and therefore, a larger number of cut flowers can be harvested per area compared with other lily cultivars. The bulb size of 12 cm or more in circumference is necessary for producing 3 flowers per scape (Fig. 3). Bulbs of 14 cm or more in circumference produce 5 flowers per scape.

Growth ‘Li-9’ needs about 65 days to flower when chilled bulbs are planted in May, which is longer than L. concolor var. pulchellum but shorter than ‘Mona’ (Table 1). ‘Li-9’ is slightly sensitive to botrytis blight, and the same disease control as for the Asiatic hybrid lily cultivars is necessary.

Bulb Propagation ‘Li-9’ can be propagated very effectively by scaling. On average, 2 bulblets are produced per scale. After 2 years of growth after scaling, about 80% of bulbs are 12 cm or more in circumference, which are usable for cut flower production (data not shown).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ‘Li-9’ is a new cultivar of the Asiatic hybrid-type lily with multiple scapes and small flowers. The raceme inflorescence is compact, and thus this cultivar may be suitable for flower arrangement in domestic uses (Fig. 4) and small bouquets. Moreover, this cultivar allows us to harvest a larger number of cut flowers per area than other lily cultivars because of its multiple scapes. Although hybrid plants with small flowers have already been produced by interspecific hybridization between the Asiatic hybrid lily cultivars and L. concolor (Okazaki et al., 1995), production of hybrids with multiple scapes has not yet been reported. For ‘Li-9’, if small bulbs (10-12 cm in circumference) are planted, the number of flowers per scape decreases to less than 3. Therefore, it is necessary to use larger bulbs (12-16 cm in circumference) for producing good-quality cut flowers. Production of new small-flowered lily cultivars with different flower color or form is now in progress.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT We wish to express our gratitude to Dr. M. Nakano, Faculty of Agriculture, Niigata University, Japan, for his critical reading of the manuscript.

Literature Cited Okazaki, K., Kawada, J., Kunishige, M. and Murakami, K. 1995. Introduction of the characteristics of Lilium concolor into L. x ‘Asiatic hybrids’ by crossing through style-cutting pollination and embryo culture. J. Jpn. Soc. Hort. Sci. 63: 825-833. Shimizu, M. 1987. Lilies of Japan - Species and Hybrids. Seibundo-shinkosha Ltd., Tokyo (in Japanese).

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Tables

Table 1. Characteristics of ‘Li-9’and its parents. Values represent the mean of 2001 and 2002*.

Species and cultivar Days to Plant Flower No. of Peduncle Leaf Leaf Botrytis blight Scape anthesis height diameter flowers length width length sensitivity** number per (cm) (cm) per scape (cm) (mm) (cm) area (a) ‘Li-9’ 65 79.5 9.1 3.8 4.5 11.1 7.8 2 17,420 ‘Mona’ 68 85.5 16.3 5.9 8.2 14.8 10.4 1 4,221 Lilium concolor var. 57 109.8 7.6 8.4 8.4 9.5 10.5 3 2,222 pulchellum *Size of planted bulbs was 12-14 cm in perimeter. Bulbs were planted on May 17 in 2001 and on May 21 in 2002. **4 (highly sensitive)-3-2-1-0 (insensitive).

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Fig. 1. Flowers of ‘Li-9’ and its parents. Left, ‘Mona’; center, ‘Li-9’; right, Lilium concolor var. pulchellum. Bar = 5 cm.

5 0–2 flowers ----- ‘Li-9’ ----- 3–4 flowers 4 5–6 flowers 7– flowers 3 Lilium concolor 2 var. pulchellum ‘Mona’ Scape number per bulb 1

0 Fig. 2. Flowering plants of ‘Li-9’. 10–12 12–14 14–16 12–14 12–14 Bar = 10 cm. Bulb size in perimeter (cm)

Fig. 3. Scape numbers per bulb in ‘Li-9’ and its parents.

Fig. 4. Flower arrangement using ‘Li-9’. Bar = 10 cm.

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