I’ve discovered that this Lily is endemic to Yunnan Province in China but more specifically to a small area around Lijiang City (where Joseph Rock lived for many years), hence the name. It was described as recently as 1984. It usually grows at about 3000 metres above sea level either in open ground or in the semi-shade of woodland margins. 

It is an altogether distinctive and imposing species to grace the garden in the earlier part of the summer, and every time it appears I think of Margaret and Henry Taylor. This intrepid couple gave a talk on Asiatic Lilies for the Ulster Group way back in November 2012.The talk included valuable advice on how  grow them, and when it had finished they handed out packets of Lily seed.