PRODUCTION AND CULTIVATION OF LILIES IN CHINA

Abstract

In this paper, the status of lily industry, such as cut-flower production, bulb production, edible lily production status, in mainland China is summarized. The lily flower yield in 2012 amounted to more than 600 million stems. This is the estimation from some companies of bulb trade in China, and we don’t have the accurate data from the government. It was estimated that the import quantity of lily bulb of main-land China in 2012, including from the Netherlands and the south hemisphere, was more than 200 million. In mainland China, at present time, lily flower production is mainly distributed at six provinces, Yunnan, Liaoning, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Fujian, and this situation has been sustained a couple of years. Among the six provinces, Yunnan is number one, and Liaoning is number two. Because of the distinctive environmental conditions, including the climate, soil and water, between north and south China, the equipments and some detailed tech-niques for cut lily production are quite different. Therefore, it has been formed two technology systems, the north China system and South China system. The total area of lily bulb production in China is still not so clear. It is estimated that lily bulb produced domestically is about 60 million in 2012 in mainland China. Many Chinese lily growers just re-use the bulbs for one or two years, some-times even three or four years in some region. There are mainly two methods of treat-ment for reusing lily bulbs after flowering. Edible lilies are a small branch of lily industry in China, but not very popular on the world. There are mainly three lily species, or varieties used for food with their bulbs in China. They are Lanzhou lily (Lilium davidii var. unicolor), which was mainly grown in the region around Lanzhou, Gansu province, Longya lily (L. brownie), which was mainly grown at Hunan and Jiangxi province, and Yixing lily (L. lancifolium), which was mainly grown in Jiangsu province.