It's Crinum Time Again!

Sometimes known as the cemetery lily or river lily, the crinum is not even a lily at all. It's a member of the Amaryllidaceae family.  It's just easier to call it a lily, I suppose, because it does resemble other lilies.

I have two of these plants. Right now one is blooming; the other has not produced any buds, but it's in more of a shady area, so that's probably the reason. 

The name Crinum comes from the Greek Krinon, which means white lily. Most of the plants have some white in their blossoms so the name seems to fit.  The stalks with the blossoms shoot up so quickly. When I saw the bud pictured above, I would have sworn there was not even a stalk in sight the previous day!

Although I received these plants as bulbs, they are apparently easy to grow from seed. The only problem with that is that it may take more than one year to mature enough to produce blossoms.

As my back yard tends to retain water after a rain, these crinum have found the perfect home.

There are between 60 and 100 species of Crinum worldwide, occurring in the United States, Africa, southern Asia and Australia.

Africa has more species that any other country.  These are truly maintenance free plants, which provide weeks of enjoyment throughout the late spring and summer months.