Flora of North America species comparison

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Crinum

Crinum zeylanicum

string-lily, swamp-lily

Ceylon swamplily
Habit Herbs, perennial, scapose, from bulbs with elongate columnar apices.
Bulbs

12–15 cm diam., neck short.
Leaves

basal, thick;

blade lorate or ensiform, not narrowed near base.

several, 5–10 dm × 3–5 cm;

blade lorate.
Scape

solid.

to 7.5 dm or more.
Inflorescences

umbellate, few- to many-flowered, subtended by 2 large, lanceolate, scarious bracts.

Umbels

8–12-flowered.
Flowers

sessile or pedicellate;

perianth connate proximally, red to white, often striped, streaked, or overlaid with red abaxially, funnelform to salverform to semicampanulate, tube straight to curved, ca. same length as limb lobes;

stamens inserted on perianth tube throat;

filaments thin, often declinate;

ovary inferior, globose;

style slender;

stigma capitate.

sessile;

perianth white with broad purplish-red keels (most pronounced adaxially), funnelform, tube 7.5–15 cm, limb lobes oblong-elliptic, 7.5–18 × 1–2 cm.
Fruits

capsular, globose or subglobose, usually prominently beaked.

Capsules

not seen at maturity, globose, beak 8–10 cm.
Seeds

fleshy, testa often corky.

warty.

Crinum

Crinum zeylanicum
Phenology Flowering late spring–summer.
Habitat Fields, wasteplaces, wet areas
Elevation 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
Tropical and warm regions worldwide; mostly in Africa
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; LA; tropical Asia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 100 (4 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Crinum zeylanicum is extensively cultivated outdoors in the lower Gulf coastal plain.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Flowers sessile or nearly so.
→ 2
1. Flowers distinctly pedicellate.
→ 3
2. Perianth white.
C. americanum
2. Perianth purplish red, particularly abaxially.
C. zeylanicum
3. Perianth pink to red; leaves 3–5 cm wide; umbels 8–13-flowered.
C. bulbispermum
3. Perianth white; leaves 7.5–12 cm wide; umbels 20–100-flowered.
C. asiaticum
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 278. Author: Walter C. Holmes. FNA vol. 26, p. 279.
Parent taxa Liliaceae Liliaceae > Crinum
Sibling taxa
C. americanum, C. asiaticum, C. bulbispermum
Subordinate taxa
C. americanum, C. asiaticum, C. bulbispermum, C. zeylanicum
Synonyms Amaryllis zeylanica, C. latifolium var. zeylanicum
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 291. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 141. (1754) (Linnaeus) Linnaeus: Syst. Nat. ed. 12, 2: 236. (1767)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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