Tag Archives: Treat’s Rain Lily

Treat’s Rain Lilies 2023-02-18

These lilies sprung up just in time for the weekend cold snap.

[One and two Treat's Rain Lilies @ OPF 2023-02-18]
One and two Treat’s Rain Lilies @ OPF 2023-02-18

Treat’s rain lily, Zephyranthes atamasca var. treateiae, is a special variety that mostly grows in counties on either side of the GA-FL line. I hear there are also some in Louisiana and Alabama. Continue reading →

Treat’s Rain Lily 2022-02-25

A sure sign of spring: Treat’s rain lily.

[Treat's rain lily]
Treat’s rain lily

Zephyranthes atamasca var. treateiae these days is classified as an amaryllis.

This is a special native variety of Atamasco lily, Zephyranthes atamasca, that only grows in counties on either side of the GA-FL line, plus maybe some in Alabama. According to Flora of North America (eFloras.org), Continue reading →

Yellow Dog, Rosemallow, Beautyberry, Treat’s Rain Lily 2021-06-12

Update 2024-06-10: Yellow Dog’s rosemallow, three years later 2024-06-09

On our daily walk to the field, Yellow Dog encountered the first Swamp Rosemallow of the year, and perhaps the last Treat’s Rain Lily, while the Beautyberry remains in bloom.

[Halberd-leaf rosemallow, Yellow Dog]
Halberd-leaf rosemallow, Yellow Dog

Continue reading →

First rain lily of 2012

The first rain lily I saw this year.


Picture by John S. Quarterman at Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 6 March 2012.

A small lily that grows only in counties along the Georgia-Florida border, and maybe in a few in Alabama: Treat’s Rain Lily, Zephyranthes atamasca var. treateiae. These days it’s classified as an amaryllis.

-jsq

The Lilies of Spring

These are not your average lily. They only grow in counties in south Georgia and north Florida along the state line, and maybe a few counties in Alabama. They’re Treat’s rain lily, Zephyranthes atamasca var. treateiae. It’s actually an amaryllis. You may know them as “those lilies you see in the ditch by the road.”

More pictures in the flickr set. Pictures by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 17 March 2011.

Also pictures from previous years.

-jsq

Treat’s Rain Lily

Treats Rain Lilly You may know these as Easter lilies, or “those lilies that grow in the ditches by the road in the spring.” It turns out their real name is Treat’s Rain Lily, and they are a native of south Georgia and north Florida, plus a bit of Alabama, and don’t grow anywhere else. We’ve seen them in Georgia counties along the Florida border as far west as Cairo, but not any farther north. Here’s much more about these lilies.

They really like where we burned this spring in the woods:

Hundreds of them in the woods

The red flags mark where we transplanted some longleaf pine seedlings.

Pictures by Gretchen Quarterman, 2-3 April 2010, Lowndes County, Georgia.

What are Those Lilies?

The pictures of Easter Lilies from a few days ago obviously aren’t the big Japanese lilies commonly sold as Easter Lilies; they’re a native plant, found in their native habitat in Lowndes County, Georgia.

Everybody around here recognizes them, and seems to call them either Easter Lilies, or “those lilies you see in the ditch by the road.” Nobody seems to know any other name for them, neither common nor botanic.

So Gretchen and I journeyed two hours south to the strange land of Gainesville, Florida, to attend the Gopher Tortoise Council spring meeting, taking a few samples of “those lilies” in hopes that the assembled botanists and biologists could identify them. And they could! Continue reading →