''Lilium carniolicum'', commonly called golden apple or Carniolan lily, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family ''

Liliaceae The lily family, Liliaceae, consists of about 15 genera and 610 species of flowering plants within the order Liliales. They are monocotyledonous, perennial, herbaceous, often bulbous geophytes. Plants in this family have evolved with a fai ...

''. It is a

lily ''Lilium'' ( ) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large and often prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are ...

native to the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, as well as to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and northeastern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

). The species is named after the historical region of

Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...

, comprising parts of modern-day

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

, where it is most abundant. Its flowers vary in colour from red to yellow, speckled on the bottom with black dots. The colour can vary even among flowers growing in the same locality. In general, yellow is predominant in the southern part of the range. There, the species is sometimes split into the closely related ''

Lilium bosniacum ''Lilium bosniacum'' is a lily native to Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also known as ''zlatni ljiljan'' (Bosnian language, Bosnian for golden lily) and ''Bosanski ljiljan'' (Bosnian lily). ''L. bosniacum'' has often been lumped and split and l ...

'', '' Lilium albanicum'' and '' Lilium jankae'', but those are usually treated as varieties of ''Lilium carniolicum''.Ikinci, N., Oberprieler, C. & Güner, A. (2006). On the origin of European lilies: phylogenetic analysis of ''Lilium'' section ''Liriotypus'' (Liliaceae) using sequences of the nuclear ribosomal transcribed spacers. Willdenowia 36: 647-565.

References

carniolicum Flora of Southeastern Europe Flora of the Alps Flora of Austria Biota of the Balkans Carniola Plants described in 1837 Taxa named by Wilhelm Daniel Joseph Koch {{Liliales-stub