An Adventure in Growing Crinums 
Perhaps I should lable this, “Adventures 
with Crinums.” The word “adventure” well 
describes the activities of a plant lover in 
pursuit of his favorite occupation. The 
word Crinum comes from the Greek word 
xrinon, meaning lily, but from the time of 
Carl Linnaeus, it has been known that they 
are Amaryliads, and not Lilies. Due to the 
lily-like form and appearance, to many they 
are still Crinum Lilies. 
The first time I ever saw or even heard 
of a Crinum was about 50 years ago. One 
of my university professors, Dr. S. Willis- 
ton, a very famous biologist and then at 
Kansas University, learning of my interest 
in bulbs, invited me to his home and gave 
me two bulbs of Crinum Moorei. 
Later, when we had moved to California in 
1905, I saw some large bulbous plants in 
many yards. For some time I wondered. 
what they were. I finally decided they. 
were Crinums. I had already gotten a few; 
they were mostly what were then called C. 
capense, later C. longifolia, but now C. bulb- 
ispermum. Others were C. Moorei. 
In 1910 I imported two varieties of C. 
Powelli; a little later I tried to cross C. 
bulbispermum with Amaryllis Johnsonii and 
found what I should already have known, 
that such a cross is impossible. In about 
1912 I placed pollen of C. Moorei on the 
stigmas of C. bulbispermum flowers. This 
was the reciprocal of the cross which pro- 
duced C. Powelli, as in this, the seed parent 
was C. bulbispurmum, and C. Moorei was 
the seed parent used to produce the C. Pow- 
elli varieties. From this cross, about 600 
seedlings were produced, one of which be- 
came C. Cecil Houdyshel. From its seed 
parent, it inherited the trait of blooming 
thruout the spring, summer and fall, a trait 
not possessed by the Powelli varieties. 
Luther Burbank’s Hybrids 
In 1910-11, I was principal of Carson City 
High School and the following year, Supt. 
of Schools at Virginia City, Nevada. On 
trips back to my home in Pomona, I freq- 
uently visited Luther Burbank at Santa Rosa. 
He had a very, thick row of Crinums which 
he called Burbank Hybrids, but they appear- 
ed to be identical. I brought home sever- 
al bulbs and after Mr. Burbank’s death, 
this Crinum was introduced by a former 
employee as White Queen, a name it richly 
deserves. . 
About 1914, after moving to our present 
La Verne ranch, I advertised J. C. Harvey 
in the Los Angeles Times garden magazine 
and received an inquiry from Mr. Edmund 
Sturtevant of Hollywood who told me he 
had known the old pioneer California hort- 
iculturist, J. C. Harvey, and would like to 
get a bulb of his Crinum..I replied by sending 
him the largest bulb I could find. gratis; I 
was then invited to visit him and see his 
Crinums, which of course I did. 
Mr. Sturtevant, I found, was a very old 
and frail man. He had a beautiful home 
and large grounds and had gained much 
fame as a grower and breeder of Water 
Lilies in the East and Crinums were only a 
hobby. I received from him, several of his 
hybrids and one, a cross of C. Asiaticum x 
C. Moorei proved to be a most valuable 
hybrid, which I later named C. Edmund 
Sturtevant. This Crinum is described and 
illustrated on pages 257-259 of Vol.II, 1944 
Herbertia. One of his former employees 
had also placed his own name on an ident- 
ical hybrid. 
Probably in the 20’s I raised a hybrid 
which was named Virginia Lee when intro- 
By Cecil Houdyshel 
duced. I have not always kept a written 
record of crosses and when done they may be 
lost. If my memory is correct the seed 
parent was C. Cecil Houdyshel and the pol- 
len parent, J. C. Harvey. So far as I know 
this was the first cross ever made between 
two hybrids as hybrid Crinums are usually 
sterile. This Crinum contains C. Moorei 
in its ancestry on both sides and strongly 
resembles C. Moorei except in the shape of 
its flowers. The flowers are definately not 
companulate like those of C. Moorei. 
First Hybrid to Seed 
This hybrid is the first that bears seed 
freely and this fact raised my hopes. Here I 
had a cross between two hybrids, probably 
the first ever made, and it produced abund- 
ant crops of seed every year. 
Pollen from Ellen Bousanquet, and from 
The Purple Fringe Bush 
George Russell 
Passes Away 
We are very sorry to hear in today’s mail 
of the death of George Russell,, Mr. Russell 
will be known for his improvement of the 
Lupin-and it was our intention to have his 
picture and something on his work for our 
December issue. 
Mr. Russell was a plain gardener, very 
reserved, and very devoted to his work. 
Many, many thousands of flower growers 
have planted and grown the Russell strain 
of the perennial Lupin, but I am afraid only 
a very few ever knew of the originator of 
the beautiful Russell Lupin. It was our spec- 
ial wish to give space to this wonderful man, 
and when he was alive. We have pictures 
now in the mail, which we shall publish 
Continued on Page 156 
every hybrid available, was used. The flow- 
ers were first emasculated before their pollen 
ripened; always seeds were set and ripened. 
These were planted and grown to flowering 
size; their seed cross-pollinated and raised. 
At least four generations of seedlings des- 
cended from C. Virginia Lee but her great- 
great-grand children are still Virginia Lees 
with variations in color which in no way 
resemble the color of their pollen parent. A 
white one was named Gordon Wayne. It 
C. Gordon Wayne Crinum 
is evident that this Crinum cannot be crossed. 
When emasculated and other pollen used, 
the only effect is to stimulate parthenoge- 
netic reproduction, a phenomenon not 
unknown among plants. 
My hope was for a race of Crinum 
hybrids that bore seed freely and crossed 
easily. In that way. the breeding of Crinums' 
would soon result in great improvements. 
This was a great disappointment; for many 
years, I puit breeding them. 
Last year, since C. Cecil 
Houdyshel bears a few seed, 
I pollinated a few flowers 
by C. Yemense, a large 
white; one seed only re- 
sulted. I am growing this 
in the greenhouse ni order 
to get continual, year a- 
round growth. This year 
have crossed Cecil Houdy- 
shel with a deep wine-red 
hybrid; whether results be 
the same as with the Virgin- 
ia Lee seedlings, no one 
knows. 
One thing to remember is 
that they are stream-side 
plants and have been dis- 
tributed all over the world 
by streams and ocean cur- 
rents. They like stream 
sides and enough moisture. 
They like the shade of trees 
and C. Moorei must have 
nearly tall shade. They like 
good drainage and an acid 
soil; in alkaline soils, some 
varieties become chlorotic 
and finally may die. This 
is probably not a mosaic 
disease as I first supposed 
but rather a food defici- 
ency. Very likely some of 
the food salts they need do 
not ionize in an alkaline. 
solution. The remedy is to 
plant the less tolerant kinds 
in soil made acid by the addition of a large 
quanty of sphagnum moss, peat or oak 
leaf mould. 
If the soil be sandy, it will also help 
I have lost a number of fine plants because 
of alkaline soil. Among these, most of our 
C. Edmund Sturtevant, and again by a 
freeze when some of those remaining were 
killed along with most of our White Queen 
in storage trays out doors. 
I had long known that Crinum seed should 
be planted on top of the ground. Seed of 
Clivias, Nerines, Brunsvigias, Haemanthus 
and others of a turgid nature also do better 
planted thus. These seed posesss photosyn- 
thesis, similiar to that of foliage and need 
light. This was discovered by a student at 
Brigham Young University. 
From my point of view, every amateur 
gardener should experiment in breeding 
plants. One English clock maker made his 
Continued on Page 152 
