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  • Image of Lycoris x rosea|Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC|JLBG

    Photo by JLBG taken at Juniper Level Botanic Gdn, NC

  • Image of Lycoris x rosea|J. Farmer Gdn, SC|Jenks Farmer

    Photo by Jenks Farmer taken at J. Farmer Gdn, SC

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Lycoris x rosea

Surprise Lily

This plant is not currently for sale. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.

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Item #: 871

Zones: 6a to 9b

Dormancy: Summer

Height: 20" tall

Culture: Sun to Light Shade

Origin: Hybrid

Pot Size: 3.5" pot (24 fl. oz/0.7 L)


This unique hybrid, named by Dr. Hamilton Traub in 1957, was discovered in a Chinese shipment to Wyndham Hayward of Florida in 1948. Lycoris x rosea combines the best traits of its parents (Lycoris sprengeri x Lycoris radiata var. pumila). The flowers of Lycoris x rosea are intermediate between both parents, having more dissected petals, magenta to pink flower color, and the tip of each petal displaying varying amounts of bright blue, but the color does not permeate the center of the flower as it does in Lycoris sprengeri. For us, this has been one of the earliest of the surprise lilies with a normal flowering time of July and foliage emerging in September.