keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

452 AMARYLLIDACEAE/HYMENOCALLIS
and persisting, possibly naturalizing; we are aware of non-cultivated East TX specimens only
from Madison (Neill & Wilson 2001) and Walker (Keith 599, SBSC) cos.; this “German-Texas
heirloom plant” is also reported to have naturalized in the German settled areas of central TX
(SFASU Mast Arboretum 2001; Great Outdoors 2001) but no specific county records are available;
in the U.S. reported only for TX. Aug–Sep. Native of Argentina and Uruguay. [Amaryllis
bifida (Herb.) Spreng., Habranthus bifidus Herb., Rhodophiala bifida (Herb.) Traub] The common
name HURRICANE-LILY is apparently derived from the tendency to flower suddenly in late
summer or early fall following rains. I
Hippeastrum puniceum (Lam.) Voss, (reddish purple), BARBADOS-LILY, AMARYLLIS. Bulb to 5–10
cm in diam.; plant to ca. 0.6(–1) m tall; foliage appearing after the flowers; leaves strap-like, (3–)
3.5–5 cm wide; flowers 2–4 per naked stalk; perianth reddish to salmon colored, lighter and/or
yellowish green toward base, with whitish midstripe on adaxial surface of each outer tepal,
large and showy, 12 cm or more long, the tube 2.5–3 cm long. Old home sites, disturbed areas,
persisting and spreading; included based on mapped locality in the se corner of East TX (without
specific county indicated) by Holmes (2002b); no county distribution map is provided; LA
and TX. Spring–early summer. [Amaryllis belladona of authors, not L., Amaryllis punicea Lam.]
This species is “the ‘amaryllis’ of commerce that is extensively cultivated outdoors in the southern
United States and indoors elsewhere” (Holmes 2002b). I
HYMENOCALLIS Salisb. WHITE SPIDER-LILY, SPIDER-LILY
Glabrous perennials from a large bulb; leaves basal, strap-like, deciduous or persistent, distichous;
inflorescence an umbel with 3–12 flowers, terminating a naked scape, subtended by 2 or
more usually scarious bracts; flowers white, extremely large and showy, sweet scented, opening
sequentially; perianth with a long slender tube and linear to narrowly lanceolate, spreading
lobes (tepals); large, conspicuous, membranous, cup-like crown (= corona) present and connecting
the bases of the filaments (the corona is actually a staminal cup created by the fusion
and expansion of the proximal portion of the filaments—Smith & Garland 2003); distal portions
of filaments free, “spidery”; fruit a few-seeded capsule.
AA genus of ca. 50 species ranging from the se U.S. to ne South America, particularly in Mesoamerica
(Meerow & Snijman 1998; Smith & Flory 2002); a number are cultivated as ornamentals.
� The bulbs of some species are poisonous due to the presence of alkaloids such as
lycorine and tazettine (Lampe & McCann 1985; Spoerke & Smolinske 1990). Hymenocallis was
used in early European medicine for treating tumors, and a number of species contain the alkaloid
pancratistatin, which is now showing promise as an anticancer drug (Pettit et al. 1993,
1995). Smith and Flory (2002) and Smith and Garland (2003) emphasize that Hymenocallis
species are particularly difficult to identify from herbarium specimens since many of the critical
characters are lost upon drying. There has long been confusion surrounding SPIDER-LILY species
in TX (e.g., Howard 1995; Smith & Flory 2001), and Smith and Flory (2002) “recommend a
thorough investigation of Hymenocallis in Texas and adjacent states to achieve a clearer understanding
of the southwestern spider-lily species.” Shinners (1951a) indicated that there were
only 2 Hymenocallis taxa in TX (one spring-flowering and one summer–fall-flowering), and
his early analysis may have been correct. The following treatment is modified from Smith and
Flory (2002). (Greek: hymen, a membrane, and callos, beauty, in reference to the corona)
REFERENCES: Small 1933; Morton 1935; Shinners 1951a; Sealy 1954; Traub 1962b; Howard 1995;
Smith & Flory 2001, 2002; Smith & Garland 2003.
1. Plants flowering early–mid-spring (Mar–May); leaves fresh at flowering time, not distinctly wider
above middle, narrowly elongate tongue-shaped, 1.7–3.6(–4) cm wide, coriaceous; perianth tube
4.5–8(–10.5) cm long; corona (= cup-like whorl of tepal-like tissue connecting filament bases)
2–3.5 cm long; free portion of filaments 1.5–3 cm long; plants of wet habitats _________________ H. liriosme