Orange daylily

Hemerocallis fulva

Asphodelaceae

The ditch lily whose buds go in a wok — edible Hemerocallis, never a true lily, never a cat’s flower water.

Hemerocallis only. True lilies (Lilium) are toxic to people and deadly to cats. Name the genus before you eat a bud.

Parts used: Unopened bud · Fresh flower (stamens removed if you prefer)
Traditional notes: Stir-fry bud · Dried golden needles in soup · Day-lily fritter
Grow · USDA 6b: Perennial, zone 3–9. Brutal and reliable. Division in spring or fall. Named food types if you can find them; fulva is the common edible. In work: May · Jun · Jul
Harvest: Buds the day before they would open. Flowers the morning they open.

If it has a scaly bulb, it is not this plate.
A clump on a bank holds soil and gives a week of buds.

Safety

Not Lilium, Convallaria, or Iris First-time eaters: a few buds, not a bowl Keep all lilies away from cats

Companions

Plant with Asparagus.

Lore

Hemerocallis is Greek for beauty-for-a-day. Chinese jin zhen, golden needles, are the dried buds of daylily, not a florist lily. The American ditch is full of fulva because it is hard to kill, which is also why a bank gardener keeps it.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.