New Taipei City Agriculture Department: Taiwan lily season has arrived, protect the flowers while enjoying them

Recently, when passing through the Northeast Coast and North Coast, have you noticed white trumpet-shaped flowers beginning to appear one by one on the mountain walls along the coastal highway? Because of the continuous good weather at the end of March and the beginning of April, Taiwan lilies bloomed earlier than in previous years. The pure white flowers stand out strikingly against the green mountain walls, attracting many tourists who come specifically to admire them. The New Taipei City Agriculture Department reminds visitors that while enjoying the flowers, they should pay even more attention to their footing and the surrounding traffic environment to ensure the safety of both people and flowers.

The Taiwan lily is an endemic species of Taiwan, also known as the Formosa lily and the Takasago lily. Its horizontal distribution covers the entire island, and it has strong adaptability. Unfortunately, due to human picking and damage, its wild numbers have become fewer and fewer. For this reason, since 2014 the Agriculture Department has actively carried out lily restoration and promotion work, hoping to protect this moving natural scenery and resource. To date, nearly 30,000 lilies have been planted in the North Coast and Northeast Coast areas.

The New Taipei City Agriculture Department stated that in recent years the focus of Taiwan lily promotion has been on increasing and establishing local participation and a sense of identity. This year it has also strengthened guidance for the public in seed collection and seedling cultivation, and placed greater emphasis on sustainable collaboration. The scope of cooperative restoration has expanded from the North Coast to the Northeast Coast. The Taiwan lily has not only become an important emblem for many schools and become deeply integrated into campus environmental education, but has also attracted increasing attention from the outside world.

Li Wen, Director of the New Taipei City Agriculture Department, said that now is the period when Taiwan lilies are budding and blooming. In addition to wild Taiwan lilies that can be found on the mountain walls along Provincial Highway 2, the coastal highway, from Shimen to Gongliao, the public can also stop to admire them at the green spaces in Jinshan urban area, the Linshanbi Trail in Shimen, the Bitou Cape Trail in Ruifang, and Longmen Park in Gongliao. The public is welcome to visit and explore, but a special reminder is given to pay attention to footing when viewing or photographing Taiwan lilies up close to avoid damaging the ecology. At the same time, everyone is asked to show civic-mindedness and not pick or damage them at will in order to avoid penalties.