Crinum stuhlmannii

Crinum stuhlmannii is a bulbous perennial, the bulb usually large. A lush rosette of the plants broad leaves can be seen flourishing next to the flowers.

Up to 30 trumpet flowers may grow in one umbel on the sturdy annual peduncle. The individual flower pedicels are long and fleshy, presenting the slightly curved funnel-shaped flowers for the benefit of viewers that will pollinate rather than admire them. A common name of candy-striped crinum has become associated with the plant, due to the deep pink band along the centre of each white-margined tepal in the narrowly funnel-shaped corolla. There are other Crinum species also having such coloured tepal bands.

The species distribution in South Africa is in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

The habitat is sandy soil in grassland and bushveld and in deep sand in the Lowveld. The habitat population is deemed of least concern early in the twenty first century. Crinum bulbs, especially also those of C. stuhlmannii, are unfortunately extensively harvested by traditional healers and the marketers that supply them. Only some of these activities fall within the ambit of the law. This adds risk to species survival as the demand is for plants from nature, not nursery grown ones (iNaturalist; iSpot; www.plantzafrica.com; www.shieldsgardens.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).