Common Name: Blackberry Lily

Scientific Name: Belamcanda chinensis

This Asian perennial, which Thomas Jefferson called "Chinese Ixia," is actually a member of the Iris family. Jefferson first received seed from nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1807, during his second term as President of the United States.[1] These were sown in an East Front oval flowerbed at Monticello.[2] Today the blackberry lilies that are found naturalized throughout Monticello are believed to be descendants of Jefferson's original plantings.

The Blackberry Lily is a hardy, herbaceous summer-flowering perennial with red-spotted orange flowers on stalks, followed by unusual seed heads that resemble blackberries, but the seeds are not edible.

- Text from Center for Historic Plants Information Sheet

Further Sources

• Leighton, Ann. American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century. Amherst, Mass.: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1986.
• Seeds available for purchase at Monticello Museum Shop
• Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants