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Brief History of Daylilies: Where did Daylilies Come From?

© Ellen Roddy

Where did Daylilies come from? There appears to be several lines of thought about this. Some believe that they came from China: others from other parts of the Orient. The Daylily has been a major plant in China since the first days of ancient Chinese culture. There is something unique about the Daylily as it seems to grow in all kinds of soil or weather. The Chinese gave the plant as a gift to the grieving and melancholy. Since it is so adaptable, it rewards all who provide even the most minuscule care. There is no other plant that lifts your spirits with so little care.

The first written record about the Daylily is about 2697 B.C. when Emperor Huan Ti arranged for a Materia Medica to be written for him by Chi Pai. Daylilies were used as food at that time. They were thought to benefit the mind and strengthen willpower. The plants grew wild in the woods and were moved to the garden for use at the table.

There were also references in the canonical writings of Confucianism. These were done around 551-479 B.C. while Confucius could select the inclusions and edit the manuscript.

In Europe the history of the Daylily is difficult to trace because of the inaccuracies of various authors and translation problems. There are accounts that the Daylily was grown in the Mediterranean around the time of St. Paul. My sources say that this is incorrect and that the plant we know as Hemerocallis today was not introduced into the Mediterranean area before 1550 A.D.

There were three herbalists in Europe who were friends and thus gave observations to each other. There were Rembert Dodoens, Charles de I'Ecluse, both from Belgium, and Mathias de I'Obel from France.

References to the Daylily appeared in these European herbals of the 16th Century as Lilasphodelus, Liriosphodelus and Lilium non-bulbosum. Wouldn't you think that they could find an easier way to say that a plant was a fibrous rooted plant? Lobel said that by 1576, two Daylilies had already been introduced into Europe, H. lilioasphodelus (H. flava) and H. fulva.

The actual routes taken when the traders brought the Daylilies to Europe were not known. But, there were several possible routes such as: the overland trade routes to Hungary taken by medieval Asian traders and settlers, routes taken by Chinese, Arabian and Phoenician traders to Venice, and the sea routes of the Portugese traders to Lisbon.

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