Expert: Kenneth Joergensen - 4/30/2004

Question
I planted a day lily tuber and the shoot has been broken at the top.  Will it still grow or will I need to replace the plant?  

Answer
If it is daylilies (hemerocallis) a broken sprout is not a worry. Daylilies do not grow from tubers, however, but from a fiberous root system held together by a crown which is the junction of the shoot and the roots. This crown is usually brown or white "tough" material and could be confused for a tuber (but it is not a tuber)

This plant is not a bulb/tuber, but a perennial. It will resprout. As long as each division have a set of green leaves, roots and part of the crown, it will grow and flower.

Daylilies are actually not lilies at all. By this I mean that lilies are is a 'borrowed' name from the 'true' lilies (lilium) which is a bulb.

Garden lilies (lilium) grow from a bulb which consist of overlapping fleshy scales attached to a basal plate from which roots also grow. They look like white or pink pale artichokes. These plants have one single stem/sprout and if broken off it will not grow for that season. The bulb structure will be seriously weakened and may not come back. If it comes back, it will send up a thin stem the following year but may take several years to bloom again.

If it is daylilies (hemerocallis) you have, you should not have to worry. If it is a 'true' lily (lilium) you should not expect any flowers this year.

Note: there is a number of other plants which borrow the 'lily' name such as canna lilies (cannas), calla lilies (Zantedeschia), etc which grow from tubers/corms. You also have plants which very loosely borrows the lily name such as daylilies (hemerocallis), sword lily (gladiolous), plantain lily (hosta), etc. None of these are 'real' lilies. Lilies usually belong to the genus LILIUM which are the bulbs explained above.

Daylilies are perennials and a broken sprout should not matter.