Amaryllidaceae » Crinum (woodrowii ?)


... click on photo for more views

found near Vasai on NH 8, Maharashtra

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As per FFOS, this Crinum woodrowii is reported to be growing rare in evergreen forests on hills.

Other descrïption says:
- a large perennial herb, 50-70 cm;
- bulb 10 cm, globose, without neck (that can be seen only by uprooting the plant, I believe)
- radical leaves, 30 cm, 7-10 cm wide, linear, obtuse, bright green
- flowers fragrant (hmmm, did not smell them as usual) ... 6-7 in umbel on a scape 30 cm *arising from outside of leaves*
- bracts 3-4 cm; perianth tube 7-10 cm, cylindric, lobes 7-10 cm, lanceolate
- stamens 6, filaments red, shorter than the perianth lobes, anthers linear, *yellow*

... click on this photo to see one of the anther seemingly yellow in colour.

Other close species described is:
Crinum pratense (growing occasionally along streams in deciduous forests)
... and there could be any other species too, which I know not.  

--Last edited by dinesh valke on 2008-07-02 23:36:32 --

Dinesh, you have done such a thorough job that there is little doubt that this is Crinum woodrowii.
I double-checked the descrïption with this Current Science article: http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct252004/1045.pdf
It also emphasizes the scape arising from outside the tuft of leaves, which is so clearly visible. Anything that could be checked, agrees with your pics.
Thumbs up from my side!  

--Last edited by tabish on 2008-06-22 22:43:30 --

Congrats on finding and beautifully photographing a rare and critically endangered species!  

... you see, at the particular place where I found these, I never imagined they could be rare or endangered; they were atleast about 20-30 plants as far as I could casually see.

... was hesitant about identification because I am not familiar with perianth, scape and bracts in this plant's context.

Thank you very much, Tabish.
Happy about the positive identification, and yet more about finding critically endangered species.

Scape is the danda on which the flower bunch appears, perianth-lobe is just another word for petal in plant where sepals and petals cannot be distinguished.

OK ... that is easy now!! Thanks, Tabish.

about common names, it would be very obviously Woodrow's lily.
And FFOS states Marathi name as: रोवी कर्णफुल rowi karnaphul.