NEWS

Photo note: To download a photo of the Sandhills Lily, see the end of the release.

New lily species found in eastern N.C. Sandhills

CHAPEL HILL -- A three-foot-tall, yellow-orange, "fire-loving" species of lily has been discovered recently in eastern North Carolina and specimens of it are on display at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium.

The "Sandhills Lily" is found primarily in the Sandhills region of the state, although some have been found in South Carolina and in southeastern Virginia, said Bruce Sorrie, a Southern Pines botanist and UNC Herbarium associate who co-discovered the plant. The public may view dried specimens of the flower from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the UNC Herbarium, home to the largest collection of plants in the southeastern United States.

"It’s a very exciting discovery to have a new lily species found in North Carolina and South Carolina," said Alan Weakley, curator of the UNC Herbarium.

"It’s an indication that much work remains to be done to understand the biological diversity that is a wonderful feature of North Carolina’s landscape."

The plant was first noted in the 1940s by researchers but wasn’t studied as a potential new species until later, Sorrie said. For a while, it was thought the Sandhills Lily was another species of lily that occurs on the Gulf Coast, Weakley said.

Sorrie, along with co-discover Dr. Mark Skinner, began collecting data on the plant in the mid-1990s. "Skinner had a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to work with this species and try to find out what its true status was," Sorrie said. "We certainly became convinced that this was a new species."

The formal description of the plant as a new species, written by Skinner and Sorrie, was published in the botanical journal Novo in 2002.

The scientific name of the lily, Lilium pyrophilum, means "fire-loving lily," Sorrie said. "We named it that because it lives in areas that have fires quite regularly, and the flower does quite well after fires. It lives in the longleaf pine ecosystem, which is an ecosystem that needs fire from time to time to maintain the health of the community."

The Sandhills Lily is about three feet tall and has flowers ranging in color from a brilliant yellow-orange to pure orange, with six petals curled backward. "This is a very attractive plant, and it will be of great interest to gardeners once it can be propagated in sufficient numbers," said Weakley.

Researchers have only been able to find about 250 individuals of the plant throughout its range. "We have counted all of the ones that we can find, and we only found 250 plants, which is absolutely miniscule," Sorrie said. "If you look for something like dogwoods, you can see 250 in an afternoon."

Weakley said land development and lack of woodland fires help account for the low numbers. "The Sandhills Lily is a very rare species that has suffered a lot from building in the area," he said. "It is critical that the remaining habitat areas where the species remains not be altered by activities like bulldozing and that they be managed properly by fires."

Because of the flower’s scarcity, Skinner and Sorrie recommended that the flower be classified as endangered. However, the process for a plant to be listed as endangered is a slow and lengthy one and no action has yet been taken, Weakley said.

The UNC Herbarium, a department of the N.C. Botanical Garden, is located in Coker Hall on the UNC campus. For more information, call (919) 962-6931.

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Photo note: To see a photo of the lily in its natural environment, click on http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/obj/sandhills_lilly.jpg

UNC Herbarium contact: Alan Weakley, (919) 962-0578 or weakley@unc.edu