The Yellow Immaculate Lily
The Yellow Immaculate Lily is an extremely rare form of our provincial floral emblem. This specimen comes with a 10-year journal about a small population near Carlyle, SK.
At the W.P. Fraser Herbarium, we have several specimens of Western Red Prairie Lily that have come from all over the province. What you might not know, is we also have a much rarer form of the plant that is seldom found called the Yellow Immaculate Lily, or Lilium philadelphicum L. var. andinum (Nutt.) Ker. forma immaculatum Raup. It’s lack of dark spots on the yellow petals make it quite easy to pick out of your typical lily patch. The Saskatchewan Conservation Data Centre (SKCDC) currently list this plant as “S1” or extremely rare for the province. For those that are familiar with the SKCDC, you may have noticed that their logo is a rendition of this very flower.
The most noteworthy occurrence in the herbarium’s records comes from Carlyle, SK. The gorgeous specimen, along with a series of correspondence, chronicles a 10-year journal of a small population of this rare plant. Mrs. Doris Silcox first noticed one growing in 1978 not far from her home and for the next 10 years, checked in with them, noting how many flowered each year. The story is detailed in the Blue Jay article titled, “The Yellow Immaculate Lily in Saskatchewan and Adjacent Manitoba, and its Persistence in Native Lily Patches”, written by Doris Silcox and Dr. Vernon Harms.
