Open Access

ARTICLE

Taxonomic Clarification and Revision of Lycoris haywardii Traub

Pengchong Zhang¹, Yingfeng Hu², Siyu Zhang³, Yaying Mo¹, Yuhong Zheng^4,5,*

1 Hangzhou Botanical Garden, Hangzhou West Lake Academy of Landscape Science, Hangzhou, China
2 College of Life Sciences, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu, China
3 College of Civil and Architecture Engineering, Chuzhou University, Chuzhou, China
4 Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China
5 Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Plant Resources, Nanjing, China

* Corresponding Author: Yuhong Zheng. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Taxonomy, Phytogeography and Ecology of Mediterranean Flora)

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2026, 95(4), 20 https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2026.075166

Received 26 October 2025; Accepted 21 April 2026; Issue published 28 April 2026

Abstract

Based on an integrative analysis of morphological traits, phenological characteristics, karyotype, and chloroplast genome data, we revised the taxonomic status of Lycoris haywardii Traub, reclassifying it as a cultivar of Lycoris rosea Traub ex Moldenke, designated as Lycoris rosea ‘Lin’. Lycoris haywardii Traub was originally published by Traub in 1957 as a spring-leafing taxon with orchid purple flowers and stamens slightly shorter than the perianth, with a flowering period from July to mid-August and a purported distribution in Japan. However, populations cultivated in Hangzhou Botanical Garden, previously referred to as L. haywardii, exhibited autumnal leaf emergence, deep purple-pink flowers, and stamens longer than the perianth. Previous artificial hybridization experiments and our current chloroplast genome analyses, along with detailed morphological and phenological observations, confirmed that it is not conspecific with the original L. haywardii. In addition, they are natural hybrids derived from L. radiata var. pumila Grey and L. insularis S. Y. Zhang & J. W. Shao, the same as the origin of L. rosea. Therefore, we formally revised the taxonomy and provided a detailed morphological description of this cultivar.

---

Keywords

---