“Nicolaus Copernicus” is the newest Polish variety of lilies registered by the Royal Horticulture Society in London. It was grown by Dr Beata Płoszaj-Witkowska from the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Warmia and Mazury (UWM) in Olsztyn.

It is the second plant registered by UWM in the world’s most important horticulture association. The lily has flowers turned out, in various shades of red and orange. It blooms in late July and early August.

In 2016, Dr Płoszaj-Witkowska registered the “Queen of Kortovo” lily at the Royal Horticultural Society. It has a common origin with “Nicolaus Copernicus”.

According to UWM, lilies are one of the scientific specialities of Dr Płoszaj-Witkowska. They were the subject of her doctoral dissertation. She started working on a new variety of lilies in 2007. For crossing, she used two parental forms of the cultivars “Bornim” and “Spider”, which was grown by the late prof. Kazimierz Mynett from the Institute of Pomology in Skierniewice, the greatest Polish scientific authority in the field of lilies.