Lilium arboricola

Lilium arboricola is a species of flowering plant in the Liliaceae family. It is native to Burma.

Habitus
The small, fleshy bulb is flattened on its top and bottom, 3 cm tall, and 5 cm in diameter. The individual scales of the bulb are 2.5 cm long, 3 cm wide at base, shaped like a wedge, and abruptly pointed at the base. The color of the base is yellowish-white, turning red towards the top.

The stem is erect, slender, hairless, and pure green in color. It can reach between 70 and 120 cm long. The plant bears a few scattered, short petioles. The leaves are pointed lanceolate, dark green, with with three to five parallel veins. These reach up to 25 cm long, and 4.5 cm wide. From the base of the stem to the middle, the leaves are larger, and from the middle to the tip become smaller.

Flower and fruit
So far, only one specimen was found growing wild in bloom, which ocurred in August, which suggests that it has a flowering period from July to August. The inflorescence bears three flowers up to 17 cm long, slightly drooping with naked stems. The leaf-like bracts can reach up to 12 cm long.

The outwardly curved, upright stamens are shorter than the perianth and gynoecium. They can reach from 2.2 to 2.5 cm, and are pale green and purple on their upper end, with mahogany anthers, and dark orange pollen. The flowers smell strongly of clover or nutmeg. Its cylindrical ovary is 0.3 cm wide, and 1.8 cm long.

The fruit capsules ripen from October to November.

The plant's chromosome number is 2n=24.

Distribution and habitat
The only specimens of this species have been found from the mountains near the Hkrang-Hka River in Kachin, Burma.

It grows in the wild in rain forests.

Botanical history and nomenclature
It was first discovered by Francis Kingdon-Ward and his assistants, Chit Ko Ko and Tha Hla in 1953, and brought a few seeds and bulbs to England. There, it was presented to the public in the same year, and was first described by William Thomas Stearn. The species epithet, arboricola is "arboreal" in Latin. Specimens from the collection made by Kingdon-Ward and his assistants flowered in cultivation, but were then lost.

In 2006, the species was thought to have been rediscovered in Lao Cai, Vietnam, but this turned out to be a new species: Lilium eupetes.