Abstract
The study was started for the purpose of making Madonna lily (Lilium candidum L.) one of the commercial horticultural crops in Japan. From seed germination through to the growth of seedlings and first cropping of bulbs, 15°C and 19°C were optimal and a high temperature of 27°C or more was not suitable. Abscisic acid (ABA) had little influence on seed germination at optimal temperatures. With respect to the prevention of germination inhibition at the supraoptimal high temperature, fluridone treatment was effective, but gibberellin (GA3) did not have an effect. The meristem of the secondary (daughter) bulb, which initiated and grew at the base of the flowering stem of the primary (mother) bulb, started to be lifted up in mid- or late-September. The shoot apex of the secondary bulb did not stop initiating vegetative primordia until flower differentiation. Around November a new meristem of the third (grand daughter) bulb differentiated at the base of the elongating stem axis in the daughter bulb. From next March onward, the stem of the daughter bulb elongated more rapidly and its apex shifted to the flower initiation phase. Flowering occurred from late May to early June. On the other hand, the initiation and filling of scales continued in the third bulb. Therefore, the bulb consisted of scales of three generations, until about August, when the last of the primary mother scales were consumed. Not only initiation of the leaf primordia in the apical meristem of the bulb but also the elongation and unfolding of new leaves (apical foliar part of foliage scale) above ground were continued and radical leaves existed in all seasons in Madonna lily. Therefore, Madonna lily did not have a dormancy state such as shown by Easter lily (L. longiflorum Thunb.).
