Hymenocallis--TOW

Kevin D. Preuss hyline@tampabay.rr.com
Sun, 25 Apr 2004 06:51:53 PDT
This weekend has been a good one for spider lily blooms here.  Right now H.
rotata, H. crassifolia, H. henryae, H. duvalensis, and H. liriosme (labled
as H. caroliniana) are all blooming.  Of course my 35 mm camera is out of
order and I am waiting to buy a  digital.

Jim Shields, the plant you gave me from LA, a riverivne plant, looks like
Jim Zimmerman's H. caroliniana, which looks to me like H. liriosme, with a
yellow center and long tepals - H. coronaria is from rivers in LA and AL to
SC and has yellow centers, but tepals are short.  This is not H.
occidentalis (Howard suggests H. caroliniana = H. occidentalis, which is in
accurate since occidentalis is vailid and H. caroliniana refers to
Pancratium maritimum)...

Thad Howard in BULBS for Warm Climates suggests that H. choctawensis might
be a syn for liriosme.  This is incorrect, as they are not the same species
as anyone who has sen both would understand.  That is not to say that at
some point in LA there isn't introgression and possible hybridization
between these two.

This seems to be the case where H. rotata and H. godfreyi meet up Wakulla
Cnty, FL where hybrid swarms are evidemt.  One would go crazy trying to sort
out colonies of the two in that vicinity (unless on the spring runs, those
are rotata, and those in the prairie marshes are H. godfreyi but in the
streams, creeks, sloughsand ditches there are hybrids.  I wonder if this is
what Herbert described as H. crassifolia in the 1800's from St. Mark's,
FL????

Thanks to all for letting me ramble on here.  As you can tell this is a fun
genus for me.

Best,
Kevin Preuss



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