To identify a daylily flower from other garden plants, it is useful to understand what sets Hemerocallis plant parts and flower characteristics apart from others in a landscape. This primer includes basic plant and daylily jargon, their meanings and explanations. While the plant characteristics are simple to grasp, beginning gardeners who have not grown the plant before should find this basic daylily information helpful.
Hemerocallis Flower Structure
The botanical name of a daylily is Hemerocallis, pronounced hem-er-o-kal' is. The basic daylily flower is a tubular shaped bloom that lasts one day and is sometimes fragrant. Daylily plants flower from summer through frost.
The petal is made of six perianth segments laid out in two rows. Looking from above a daylily bloom, a gardener will see three inner petals overlaying three outer sepals. A double flowered daylily is called a polymerous because there are more than six perianth segments.
The midrib is the center vein of a petal or sepal that runs lengthwise. In daylily-speak, the term can be important for describing part of a color or pattern in a daylily flower.
The eyezone is another term used to describe a location on the petals and sepals that has a change in color. The eyezone is above the throat and creates a visual circle around the flower.
The throat is the center most inner section of a daylily flower, where the pistil and stamen connect. The throat is another structure of the flower where a color description is used. Insects or frogs hide in the throat of a daylily, an unexpected but exciting surprise for garden photographers.
The pistil is made up of the stamen, stigma and style. The style extends up from the ovary, the stigma is formed at the flared tip and the six stamens are attached at the base of petals. Each stamen has a filament topped by a two-lobed anther, which holds the pollen.
There are 11 chromosomes in each set. Diploid daylilies have two complete sets and tetraploids have four. Daylily hybridizers use the chromosome information to develop new cultivars.
Perennial Daylily Plant Form
The perennial daylily is a large clump forming plant with long strap-like leaves, 1’ – 2’ long, and vertical flower stems called scapes. A group of leaves is a fan; this term is used to describe the size of a daylily plant.
Scapes are leafless flower stems, except for the bracts, that shoot from the crown of the daylily. Bracts are modified leaves attached to the scape. Gardeners look at bracts for an indication whether more branches will develop in later years.
The crown of a daylily plant is the white core between the leaves and the roots, planted underground. When dividing a daylily plant, a portion of the crown must be included with each fan. The roots of a daylily plant are described as fibrous, but together with the finer roots, the entire root system is very dense.
Hemerocallis in Flower Gardens
Hemerocallis is an easy plant to grow in flower gardens with full sun and moist well draining soil. Daylilies will withstand short periods of hot weather in summer without water. It is a plant appropriate for edging rain gardens.
The variety of Hemerocallis flowers and plant sizes and their flower form makes them worth planting in themed gardens. The movement of unusual form and spider daylilies and the tubular shape of the blooms will attract pollinators. Daylilies have their exceptions, like the fragrant night blooming Hemerocallis for a patio enjoyed in the evening.
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