46. Crinum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 291. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 141. 1754.
String-lily, swamp-lily [Greek krinon, a lily]
Walter C. Holmes
Herbs, perennial, scapose, from bulbs with elongate columnar apices. Leaves basal, thick; blade lorate or ensiform, not narrowed near base. Scape solid. Inflorescences umbellate, few- to many-flowered, subtended by 2 large, lanceolate, scarious bracts. 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. Fruits capsular, globose or subglobose, usually prominently beaked. Seeds fleshy, testa often corky.
Species ca. 100 (4 in the flora): tropical and warm regions worldwide, mostly in Africa.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Moldenke, H. N. 1962. Amaryllid genera and species. Pl. Life 18: 48–50. Wunderlin, R. P., B. F. Hansen, and D. W. Hall. 1985. The vascular flora of central Florida: Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes, additional taxa. Sida 11: 232–244.
