Hymenocallis occidentalis

woodland spider-lily
Hymenocallis occidentalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae
Genus: Hymenocallis
Species: H. occidentalis
Binomial name
Hymenocallis occidentalis
(J.LeConte) Kunth
Synonyms[1][2]
  • Hymenocallis bidentata Small
  • Hymenocallis moldenkeana Traub
  • Pancratium occidentale J. Le Conte

Hymenocallis occidentalis is a plant species native to the southern United States. It is known along the Gulf Coast from South Carolina to Texas, and in the Mississippi Valley as far north as southern Illinois and Indiana.[3] It is also cultivated as an ornamental elsewhere because of its showy, sweet-smelling flowers.[1] Common names include woodland spider-lily, hammock spider-lily or northern spider-lily.

Many of the other U.S. species of the genus grow in wetlands and along streambanks, but H. occidentalis can often be found in mesic forests.[1] Some of the Mexican species (e. g. H. clivorum and H. pimana) can similarly be found some distance from waterways.[4][5][6]

Hymenocallis occidentalis is a bulb-forming perennial herb bearing an umbel of 3-9 showy flowers, each white with a green center, opening one at a time. Leaves are lanceolate, up to 60 cm long and 6 cm wide at their widest points.[1][6][7][8][9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Flora of North America vol 26, p 285.
  2. The Plant List
  3. Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map
  4. Laferrière, Joseph E. 1998. A new Hymenocallis (Amaryllidaceae) from Sonora, Mexico. Novon 8:242-243.
  5. Laferrière, Joseph E. 1990. Hymenocallis pimana (Amaryllidaceae): a new species from northwestern Mexico. Phytologia 68(4):255-259.
  6. 1 2 Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida i–x, 1–806. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
  7. Traub, Hamilton Paul. 1962. Plant life. Stanford 18: 71, Hymenocallis moldenkeana
  8. Le Conte, John. 1836. Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York 3: 146, Pancratium occidentale.
  9. Kunth, Karl Sigismund. 1850. Enumeratio Plantarum Omnium Hucusque Cognitarum 5: 856. Hymenocallis occidentalis'
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