Flora of North America species comparison

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Crinum asiaticum

Crinum bulbispermum

poison bulb, tree crinum

hardy swamplily
Bulbs

25 cm or more × 10–12 cm.

8–10 × 6–8 cm.
Leaves

numerous, 10 dm or more × 7.5–12 cm;

blade ensiform, gradually tapering to apex.

5–8 dm × 3–5 cm;

blade lorate.
Scape

stout, 2-edged.

4–7.5 dm.
Umbels

20–100-flowered.

8–13-flowered.
Flowers

perianth white, salverform, tube 3–7.5 cm, limb lobes linear, 7.5 × 1–1.5 cm;

pedicel 1–2 cm.

perianth pink to red, funnelform, tube narrow, 5–10 cm, limb lobes lanceolate-linear, lanceolate-elliptic, or lanceolate-ovate, 6–11 × 1–1.7 cm;

pedicel (2–)4–6 cm.
Capsules

to 5 cm diam., beak long.

not seen at maturity, beak very short to absent.

Crinum asiaticum

Crinum bulbispermum
Phenology Flowering summer–fall. Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Wet areas Margins of wet areas and disturbed sites
Elevation 0–100 m (0–300 ft) 0–200 m (0–700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
FL; LA; tropical Asia [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; LA; NC; TX; S Africa [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Crinum asiaticum is a robust and highly variable species that is distinguished by its very broad leaves. The bulb is reputed to be poisonous.

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

Crinum bulbispermum is apparently the nonnative species of Crinum that is most commonly cultivated outdoors. The name C. longifolium (Linnaeus) Thunberg was long misapplied to this species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 279. FNA vol. 26, p. 279.
Parent taxa Liliaceae > Crinum Liliaceae > Crinum
Sibling taxa
C. americanum, C. bulbispermum, C. zeylanicum
C. americanum, C. asiaticum, C. zeylanicum
Synonyms Amaryllis bulbisperma
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 292. (1753) (Burman f.) Milne-Redhead & Schweickerdt: J. Linn. Soc., Bot. 52: 161. (1939)
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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