Turk's-cap Lily
Lilium superbum
In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in cove forests and moist forests, moist ravines, blackwater stream swamps, Coastal Plain bogs. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Louisiana. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- 4–8 feet
- Spread
- 6 inches–1 foot
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial, from a bulb
- Bloom
- July to August
- Fruiting season
- September to October
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 1 Louisiana parish.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Forested wetlands with standing water much of the year, such as cypress and gum swamps.
Who uses this plant?
11CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA
Genus host records with ranges including LA · Lilium
- Acharia stimuleaSaddleback Caterpillar Moth
- Acrolepiopsis incertellaCarrionflower Moth
- Geshna cannalisLesser Canna Leafroller Moth
- Hymenia perspectalisSpotted Beet Webworm
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Platynota rostranaOmnivorous Platynota
- Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
- Spilosoma virginicaVirginian Tiger Moth, Yellow Woolybear Moth, Yellow Bear
- Spodoptera latifasciaOrange-Striped Armyworm, Velvet Armyworm Moth
Show all 11
- Xanthopastis regnatrixConvict Caterpillar, Spanish Quaker, Spanish Moth
2BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Lilium
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0Adult butterflies / moths 2
- Anosia plexippus
- Argynnis cybele
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Liliaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5a–8b
- Soil pH
- Acidic
- Flower color
- Yellow, orange or purple
- Fruit begins
- September
- Fruit ends
- October
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to August” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow, orange or purple” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Fruit begins · “September” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 5a–8b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
- Height · “4–8 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Life cycle · “Perennial, from a bulb” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally wet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont, Virginia DCR Coastal Plain, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Soil pH · “Acidic” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “6 inches–1 foot” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
Also known as
Turk's cap Lily; Turks Cap Lily
Conservation status
| Louisiana rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| LA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Growing cautions
- Spreads by runners. Spreads by stolons and will naturalize under optimum growing conditions. Tennessee Smart Yards
For planning only; these do not change the score or Fit.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- Louisiana occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

