Krinum

Crinum plants grow in seasonally moist places such as marshes, swamps and the banks of streams and lakes, in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. The genus belongs to the family Amaryllidaceae. The bulbs can be very large.

Crinum asiaticum is widely planted in many warmer regions as an ornamental. It is native to East Asia, tropical Asia, Australia and islands of the Pacific and western Indian oceans. Its inflorescence is an umbel with 10-24 flowers. Crinum asiaticum is a perennial herb that typically grows up to 1.2 m tall.

Crinum moorei, the Natal lily, is native to South Africa. A cluster of 5-10 white to pale pink flowers forms on top of a stalk that is up to 1.2 m tall. In the wild Crinum moorei is Vulnerable, the wild population having declined by 20% over the past 70 years, due to harvesting of bulbs for traditional medicine and infestations by pests. It is used in traditional medicine for urinary tract and skin infections, and cleansing the blood. Crinum × powellii is a garden hybrid between C. bulbispermum and C. moorei.

The entire Crinum asiaticum plant is toxic, especially the bulb. It contains a variety of alkaloids such as lycorine and tazettine. Lycorine is a toxic crystalline alkaloid found in various Amaryllidaceae species. Lycorine is the most frequent alkaloid of Amaryllidaceae.

The floral scent of Crinum campanulatum was found to be dominated by aromatic compounds, including many with functional groups containing nitrogen. The chemical composition of this scent did not differ between day and night samples. Crinum campanulatum is an aquatic geophyte whose flowers were visited mainly by honeybees and carpenter bees. Its flower colour changes from white to a dark pink over four days from anthesis.

Several species of Crinum are used in aquariums and in aquascaping.

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Related: Arum Lily · Biomuguet · Calla Lily · Daylily · Fire Lily · Florhydral · Hydroxycitronellal · Lily