Martagon lily

About

The Martagon lily is the only lily that grows wild in Ukraine. In the Carpathians, it is found in beech and mixed forests, on forest edges, glades, in thickets, and on mountain meadows, rising to subalpine tall grass.

The plant is 50–150 cm tall with a straight stem. The leaves are elongated, with the middle ones gathered in whorls of several pieces. The inflorescence is a raceme of several, and in strong plants, up to 9–15 drooping flowers. The flower resembles a turban: six pink-purple tepals with dark spots are strongly bent upwards, and long stamens with orange anthers hang down. In the evening, the flowers smell stronger and attract night moths.

The Martagon lily blooms in June - July. In autumn, ribbed capsules with flat seeds remain in place of the flowers. It takes several years from seed to first flowering, so each picked flower or dug bulb significantly harms the population.

Due to its beauty, the lily has long been picked for bouquets and dug up for gardens. It is now listed in the Red Book of Ukraine with the status of 'not evaluated', so picking and digging it up is prohibited. Gardeners buy lily bulbs from nurseries — in the forest, the plant should only be photographed.

Where in the Carpathians

The map shows where naturalists recorded the species (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY records), not every place it lives. The Ukrainian Carpathians are less studied, so a blank area does not mean the species is absent. For rare and vulnerable species the map is deliberately coarse (hexagons of ~250 km² or more) so that it never points to dens, nests or growing sites.

Countries

Slovakia · Czechia · Ukraine · Romania · Poland · Hungary · Austria

Mountain ranges

Slovak Ore Mountains, Greater Fatra, Strážov Mountains, Lesser Fatra, Low Tatras, White Carpathians, Belianske Tatras, Slovak Paradise, Volovec Mountains, Western Tatras

Altitude belts

Foothills (below 600 m) · Beech forests (600–1200 m) · Conifer forests (1200–1600 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Protection and rules

Listed in the Red Book of Ukraine (not evaluated). Enjoy it, picking and digging it up is prohibited.

Admire, don’t pick: plants listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine — and any plants in nature reserves and strictly protected zones of national parks — must not be collected.

Red Data Book of Ukraine

FAQ