Giant Spider Lily - Crinum asiaticum

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I visited friends in Miami October-November 2016. (It was very interesting dining in a Cuban restaurant and hearing a heated discussion of the election in Spanish.)

Near the Miami civic center we saw a planting of Crinum asiaticum, Asiatic spider lily. Its seed-bearing flower stalks overhung the sidewalk. I brought home one of the seeds, the size of a small avocado seed. I planted it in mid November 2016, and it sprouted in May this year. Here it is in a 1-quart / liter foam cup.

Crinum is an ancient genus in family Amaryllidaceae, with species world wide. This is one of the largest species, with long, strap-like leaves. Flower stalks can reach 6 feet / 1.75 meters high. Flowers are white, large, in clusters, and fragrant at night. It is used throughout the warm tropics as a large landscape plant.

The entire genus has seeds very large for the size of the plant, adapted to dispersal by floating. In habitat, they seldom grow far from standing summer water.