The South’s Rarest Wildflower the Cahaba Lily

This is my once-a-year photo opportunity and subsequent post for one of the most beautiful and fragile-looking blooms in our garden: the Cahaba Lily. In fact, the last time I was able to post these blooms of any quality was back in 2008 with this post, Cahaba or Shoals Spider Lily in Full Summer Bloom.

This plant's blooms are a pretty rare sight outside of our immediate area in the South. All of ours in our personal gardens were given to us by neighbors who had them growing for years. They are bulbs and will multiply well if they’re in the right environment. While they are not yet listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the Cahaba Lily is considered "threatened" and is under consideration for federal protection—so you can’t just go to Home Depot and buy them.

Ironically, our garden's first Cahaba Lily came from Texas in the early 2000's, where out there they called it the Fourth of July plant—but it's native to our very location, Texas can't claim this one. Those bulbs from Texas were thought to have long since died off and were dormant in our garden for more than 10 years before we moved the garden and accidentally dug them up in their original spot.

What is a Cahaba Lily

Outside of individual gardens, every summer this plant blooms in the rivers of the southeastern U.S. It’s known scientifically as Hymenocallis coronaria, a semi-aquatic flower native to our area and much of Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. It’s often considered one of the South’s most treasured wildflowers—not only for its beauty, but for its rarity and the unique environment along the Cahaba River.

The Cahaba Lily is part of the spider lily family, with white blossoms stretching about three inches across. Each bloom features six delicate petals that fan out like a star, with a central cup that gives the flower a delicate glow in the morning or evening light (morning for us). What makes this plant pretty amazing is where it grows—not in fields or marshes, but right in the middle of fast-moving, shallow rivers. These lilies anchor themselves in rocky shoals, clinging to submerged stones where the current is strong and the sun beats down on them all day.

Each individual flower only lasts for a single day, similar to our Day Lily blooms here, but when hundreds of these flowers bloom together in a river, it creates an amazing view of white blossoms.

Because the Cahaba Lily requires such a specific habitat—clean, flowing rivers with rocky beds and lots of sun—it’s considered a vulnerable species. Dams, pollution, and habitat disruption have all contributed to its decline, and it can now be found in only about 50 known locations across the Southeast—or in small gardens like ours. One of the most well-known places to see it is the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge in Alabama, where the entire area can turn into a magnificent sea of white blooms.

Photographing Cahaba's

Photographing these “wildflowers” is always a special experience, especially where we live in the South. You have to do this in the early morning, in June or July, when it’s 100% humidity and the no-see-ums will carry you off or eat you alive. That’s why I’m wearing a full hooded long-sleeve shirt—because the bugs are killing me.

On this day, I shot a series of images horizontally and vertically, which would then be stacked to give the blooms better sharpness and depth of field. the backgrounds of all of the macro shots were a little too busy for me, but to change that I would really have to have a 200mm lens, the 105mm is only going to blank out the background so much.

The photos of me were taken with my APS-C camera, the Nikon N30 (also on a tripod), which is just a kit lens on a timer. I took several of myself, the camera, and the flowers to show what they look like taken with a “normal” camera and lens. I also like to take several "environmental shots" of the surrounding area to get a feel for how a good composition might work out. You can see the focus falls off quickly and the image lacks some depth and dynamic range.

The macro shots below were taken with my Nikon D850 and the Nikkor 105mm macro lens. One I showed here was a single image; the other three are stacked images. In fact this is the same lens I used to take the images from back in 2008.

Macro Stacked Images

These flowers are always some of my favorite to shoot. They haven’t bloomed much in the past, so when they do, it’s great to get some decent shots. These are probably the best images I’ve obtained of these flowers since I started shooting them many years ago.

Whether you're a photographer, gardener, or simply someone who appreciates native wildflowers, taking the time to see or grow these lilies is always worth it. What rare blooms do you have that get you to stop everything and grab the camera?

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