Joe Shaw wrote: >Does anyone know if Crinum schmidtii is the same plant as >C. moorei var. schmidtii? >Also, where does C. carlo-schmidtii fit into the picture; is it a >form of C. moorei? Hi Joe, I got a reply to your question from Alani Davis. I hope he will join us here at PBS one of these days. Regards, Jay Alani's reply: Crinum schmidtii and C. moorei var. schmidtii or C. moorei schmidtii or C. moorei album represent multiple view points on a taxonomic disagreement that remains unresolved as far as I can tell. Those that say it is resolved seem to be deigning the validity of the arguments of the other sides. I do not know enough about the differences here to join the fray, but regardless, they are all referring to the same plant. It would be in the C. moorei subgroup regardless to how closely akin one believes it is. C. carlo-schmidtii which is actually spelled C. carolo-schmidtii is totally different species. According to Hannibal, it is a member of the Codonocrinum series Tenuifolia that he describes as follows: The following species represent a diversified group adapted to a desert environment such as found between the tenth and twenty fifth parallels in South Central Africa. Rainfall is limited and most species have adapted to growing in occasionally flooded pans, as noted. The foliage is narrow, under 2 to 4 cm. by 30 to 70 cm. long and often semierect. The blossoms are normally sessile or subsessile and range from one to 10 per umbel, rarely more. Flowering is semi-sequential. Some of the other species in this group are C. campanulatum, C. lugardiae, C. lineare, C. variabile, C. crassipes, C. paludosum, and C. trifidum. This subgroup is mostly closely allied with Codonocrinum series Capense which he describes as follows: This clade consists of those South African Crinum whose foliage is broad and grows vigorously taking several years to mature, while the leaf apices exhibit acute needle-like tips. The blossoms are pedicelled and normally flower sequentially. Climatic changes over the past ages have caused far more morphological speciation in these latitudes than in the tropics. Some of these are more familiar and include Crinum bulbispermum, C. macowanii, C. graminicola, C. stulhmanii, C. crassicaule, and C. foetidum.