Aloes and Lilies of Ethiopia and Eritrea

Reproduction
CRINUM 171
cicle below the style), rarely spreading and arcuate. The
fruits are in principle capsules, with a membranaceous
or fleshy fruit wall (pericarp), bursting irregularly or
rotting rather than bursting, with several large greyish
or greenish, subglobose to irregularly compressed seeds,
5–10 mm in diameter.
Crinum is a large pantropical genus, including some
100 species, of which c. 50 are represented in Africa, and
four in Ethiopia. The genus is widespread in the tropics,
and particularly the group of species with straight tubes
and spreading tepal segments are found all around the
tropics, in the New as well as the Old World Tropics.
The species with curved tubes and segments forming a
funnel or bell are restricted to the Old World Tropics, and
they have their main distribution in Africa. The centre
of variation of the genus is in southern Africa, and the
number of species is decreasing from the south to the
north. The number of endemic species also decreases
towards the north, but still two of the four Ethiopian
species are endemic or near­endemic.
The most common species found in cultivation in
Ethiopia appears to be a South African cultivar, C. ×
powelli, which differs from the other species by having
a distinct false stem, and pinkish flowers without distinct
bands on the tepals.
The flowers produce large amounts of nectar from the
septal glands in the ovary, excreted into the bottom of
the deep narrow tube. The flowers tend to smell most
intensive in the evening, and they are certainly pollinated
by large hawk­moths with a proboscis more than 12
cm long. The two different flower morphs found in the
genus (bell­shaped vs. star­shaped) might be attributed to
different pollinators, but observations are lacking.
When the fruits are mature, the scape tends to bend,
placing the fruits on the ground. This is not a particularly
efficient seed dispersal mechanism, seeds being located
in small heaps close to the mother plant. The seeds in
this genus are only covered by a thin membrane, lacking
the protective seed coat of most other lilies. This is
due to the fact that the integuments of the ovules never
develop. Accordingly, the seeds are not able to survive
a dry season, and have to germinate in the same rainy
season as they are produced, sometimes even starting to
germinate within the fruit. The large seeds contain much
endosperm, and within a relatively short period they can