Seasonal Wild Flowers

Latin name

Crinum bulbispermum x moorei = C. x powellii

Other names

Cape lily, Bengal Lily, Crinum Lily, Spider Lily, and

Swamp Lily.

Family

Amaryllidaceae

Flowering season

August to September

English distribution

It is very thinly scattered in parts of the South and West

Lancashire.

For a map see the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland –

Powell's Cape-lily

Habitat

It is a neophyte that was introduced from South Africa

into the UK in the 1850s. The hybrid, Crinum x powellii,

is a cross between Orange River Lily, C. bulbispermum,

 and  Natal Lily, C. moorei. It is named after C.B. Powell.

It is grown as a showy garden plant and has escaped

into the wild and become naturalised in waste ground

and sand dunes in the last 30 years or so.

The plant shown here were seen on rough ground on

Bryher, Isles of Scilly.

Description

Powell's Cape-lily is a bulbous, perennial herb growing

up to 80cm.

The flowers are trumpet-shaped, white, pink or red,

fragrant and up to 22cm.

The 6 tepals are fused at the base to produce a

hypanthial tube up to 6cm and open out into broad

spreading lobes.

There are 6 stamens with white filaments and

dark anthers.

The style is long, white and pink with a capitate stigma.

Flower stems are hairless scapes.

All parts Powell's Cape-lily are toxic and can cause skin

irritation.