Easter lily
Sources last read 14 September 2026.
Middling It gives warning, with time to act.
Also called Bermuda lily, November lily, Trumpet Lily and white trumpet lily.
Easter lily is toxic
- Toxic to cats. Toxic principle: Unknown. Clinical signs: Vomiting, inappetence, lethargy, kidney failure, and death is possible. Cats are only species known to be affected. ASPCA
- Listed as non-toxic to dogs by ASPCA.
- Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
What the sources say about its care
- Light
- Full sunRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Water
- Well-drainedRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Humidity
No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.
ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026- Temperature
How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.
H3 — -5 to 1°C -5 to 1 °CRHS · read 13 September 2026- Soil
- Loam, Sand; pH Acid or Alkaline or NeutralRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to cats
- ToxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Toxic to dogs
- Listed as non-toxicASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Harmful to people
- No harm is recorded, only a note: the bulbs are ornamental and should not be eaten. Use gloves and protective gear when handling it.RHS · read 13 September 2026
How it usually goes wrong
- Faded, yellow-white areas on the sunny side of the plant
The damage on the Easter lily faces one way. Turn the pot round and the other side is clean.
Even a plant described as full sun can take more through glass than it would outdoors, because glass removes the breeze that carried the heat away.
Telling it apart: The edge of the damage. Scorch has a sharp boundary; rot and infection have a soft, spreading one.
RHSDiagnose yellowing leaves on this Easter lily- Flower buds shed while still closed
Buds appear on the Easter lily and then fall while still closed, often within days of the plant being moved, turned or left to dry out.
A bud is the most expensive thing on the plant. Kept below the full sun its source names, or moved while in bud, the Easter lily abandons buds before it abandons leaves.
Telling it apart: A fallen bud under a magnifying glass. Insects or scarring point at pests; a clean bud points at a change or at water.
RHSDiagnose leaf drop on this Easter lily- Leaf tips go crisp and brown
A narrow dry border on the Easter lily, often with a faint yellow line against the healthy tissue. It appears on several leaves at once rather than spreading from one.
Heated air holds less water than the plant loses into it, so moisture leaves the leaf faster than it arrives. Penn State Extension cites ASHRAE's indoor range of 30% to 60% relative humidity, and winter heating often takes a room below it. That applies while it is grown indoors; its RHS rating of H3 describes a plant that also grows outside, where the air is seldom that dry.
Telling it apart: What else in the room changed. Edges that browned when the radiators came on point at the air rather than at the watering.
Penn State ExtensionDiagnose brown tips and edges on this Easter lily- The plant deflates, and lifts again within hours of a soak
The Easter lily loses its stiffness first at the tips of the newest growth, and the whole pot feels light for its size.
Its source describes well-drained soil. Below that the cells lose pressure, and pressure is what holds a leaf out straight.
Telling it apart: Push a finger two inches in. Dry all the way down points at thirst; damp points somewhere else.
RHSDiagnose drooping on this Easter lily
Not sure which it is? Ask the diagnosis questions for Easter lily.
Routine care
- Propagation
- SeedNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Sow seed once ripe, in containers kept in a cold frame. Bulbs: as plants go dormant, take bulblets off the parent bulb and pot them on; before plants die down, take bulbils from the leaf axils and pot them on; scales from healthy bulbs can also be used.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pruning
- Once flowering is over, cut the flower stems down.RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Pests and diseases
- Can be troubled by bulb mites, slugs and snails, aphids (including potato aphid and tulip aphid) and narcissus bulb fly.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Can be troubled by wireworms, leatherjackets, thrips, snails, slugs, aphids and lily beetle, and damaged by voles and rabbits; container plants can get vine weevil. Diseases: a virus and grey moulds; see lily diseases.RHS · read 13 September 2026
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Photographs
About the plant
Lilium longiflorum, often called the Easter lily, is a species of plant endemic to both Taiwan and Ryukyu Islands (Japan). Lilium formosanum, a closely related species from Taiwan, has been treated as a variety of Easter lily in the past. It is a stem rooting lily, growing up to 1 m high. It bears a number of trumpet-shaped, white, fragrant, and outward-facing flowers. This species, along with most other true lilies, are highly toxic to cats.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026
- Native range
- Japan (Yakushima, Tanegashima) to Philippines (Batan Is., N. Luzon)World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines.NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Japan to PhilippinesRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Climate
- subtropicalWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- Growth form
- bulbous geophyteWorld Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026Bulb, Herbaceous Perennial; habit erectNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Bushy (deciduous)RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Size
- Height 12–36 in; width 12–28 inNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Height 0.5-1 metres; spread 0.1-0.5 metres after 1–2 yearsRHS · read 13 September 2026
- Flowering
- Flowers white; blooms in fall, summerNC State Extension · read 13 September 2026Flowers white in summerRHS · read 13 September 2026
Plants with similar care
African violetBrown tips on the newest leaves first
Bigleaf hydrangeaA thin dry rim that crumbles between the fingers
Bird of paradiseCrisp margins that appear in winter
Busy LizzieBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Calla lilyEdges of the leaves brown while the middle stays sound
CamelliaBrown brittle margins with a green centre
Sources
- ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
- Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
- NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
- RHS · read 13 September 2026
- Wikipedia · read 13 September 2026
What this does not cover
The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.
Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.
If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.