ADDISONIA #7 
(Plate 11) 
CRINUM AMERICANUM 
Florida Swamp-lily 
Naittve of the southern United States and the West Indies 
Family AMARYLLIDACEAE AMARYLLIS Family 
Crinum americanum I,. Sp. Pl. 292. 1753. 
A smooth, somewhat fleshy herbaceous plant with a bulbous 
base fee which arise six or more arching strap-shaped leaves and a 
scape bearing an umbel of conspicuous, nearly sessile, creamy 
white, fragrant, lily-like flowers. ‘The bulb, buried deep in the mud, 
is ovoid, about three to four inches thick with a short neck formed 
by the long-persistent leaf-bases. The leaves are dark-green, one 
to two feet long, one half to two inches broad, or Bo ona me longer 
and broader, and usually denticitate on the margin, the teeth in- 
conspicuous and often remote. e scape is moderately ae one 
or sometimes two feet in height. The flowers are from two to six, 
commonly four; the tube is greenish, sieniter; straight, and as long 
as the lobes of the sie sein or longer; the lobes are linear-lanceolate 
or lanceolate, commonly two and one half to three and one half 
inches in length and acute at the apex. The Six stamens are spreading, 
ith pinkish or sometimes reddish-pink ts and linear anthers. 
This, the only species of Crinum native to the southeastern 
United States, grows in shaded river swamps or open marshes 
from Florida to Louisiana and Texas; it is also found in some 
parts of Cuba and on the Isle of Pines. 
The species of the genus Crinum occur throughout the wariter 
regions of both hemispheres; they require widely di 
conditions of culture, some preferring a tropical atmosphere, while 
others thrive best at lower temperature. The Florida swamp-lily 
grows best in arich soil and may be cultivated most successfully at a 
subtropical temperature in tubs or boxes submerged in water. The 
accompanying illustration is from a specimen originally collected by 
N. L. Britton, J. F. Cowell, and F. S. Earle, in a bog along the Rio 
Damuji in the province of Santa Clara, Cuba, in March, 1911; it 
first flowered at the New York Botanical Garden in August, 1913. 
The genus Crinum differs from Amaryllis in the long tube of the 
flowers, which are nearly sessile in the umbel instead of stalked. 
The natives of India consider the leaves and bulbs of certain species 
to be of medicinal value. 
Percy WILSON. 
