Lycoris (plant)

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Not to be confused with Liquorice (or licorice), a plant from which a sweet flavour can be extracted, also used in traditional medicine.

Lycoris
Lycoris radiata Higanbana in a woods.jpg
Lycoris radiata
a species with long stamens
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Amaryllidaceae
Subfamily: Amaryllidoideae
Tribe: Lycorideae
Genus: Lycoris
Herb.[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Pleurastis Raf.
  • Orexis Salisb.
Lycoris sanguinea, a species with short stamens
Lycoris and butterfly (Papilio xuthus) in Japan

Lycoris is a genus of 13–20 species of flowering plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae.[3] They are native to eastern and southern Asia in China, Japan, southern Korea, northern Vietnam, northern Laos, northern Thailand, northern Burma, Nepal, northern Pakistan, Afghanistan, and eastern Iran. They were imported into North Carolina and now grow wild. In English they are also called hurricane lilies or cluster amaryllis. The genus shares the English name spider lily with two other related genera.[4][5][6]

They are bulb-producing perennial plants. The leaves are long and slender, 30–60 cm long and only 0.5–2 cm broad. The scape is erect, 30–70 cm tall, bearing a terminal umbel of four to eight flowers, which can be white, yellow, orange, or red. The flowers divide into two types, those with very long, filamentous stamens two or three times as long as the tepals (subgenus Lycoris; e.g. Lycoris radiata), and those with shorter stamens not much longer than the tepals (subgenus Symmanthus Traub & Moldenke; e.g. Lycoris sanguinea). The fruit is a three-valved capsule containing several black seeds. Many of the species are sterile, reproducing only vegetatively, and are probably of hybrid origin; several additional known hybrids occur.[4][5][7]

Selected species[]

As of April 2015, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognizes 22 species and one hybrid:[2]

  1. Koidz. (treated as the hybrid L. × albiflora by some sources) – white spider lily - Jiangsu, Korea, Kyushu
  2. Y.Xu & G.J.Fan - Anhui, Jiangsu
  3. Worsley - Myanmar
  4. (L'Hér.) Herb. (syn. Nerine aurea) – golden spider lily - China, Japan incl Ryukyu Is, Indochina, Taiwan
  5. Traub – magic lily - Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang
  6. Traub – yellow surprise lily - Henan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Korea
  7. M.Kim & S.Lee - Korea
  8. Y.Xu & G.J.Fan - Guangxi
  9. Traub - Japan
  10. Traub - Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Matsu Islands, Japan
  11. Comes ex Sprenger – peppermint surprise lily - Hubei, Yunnan
  12. Traub - Sichuan
  13. Nakai - Korea, †Japan
  14. Y.C.Hsu & G.J.Fan – long tube surprise lily - Jiangsu
  15. Lycoris radiata (L'Hér.) Herb. – spider lily, red spider lily - China, Korea, Japan, Matsu Islands, Nepal; naturalized in Seychelles and in scattered places in United States
  16. Traub & Moldenke - Jiangsu, Zhejiang
  17. Maxim. – orange spider lily - Japan
  18. Y.Xu & Z.B.Hu - Sichuan, Shaanxi
  19. Comes ex Baker – tie dye surprise lily - Anhui, Hubei, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Matsu Islands
  20. Lycoris squamigera Maxim. – naked lady, surprise lily, magic lily, resurrection lily - Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Japan, Korea; naturalized in Ohio, Tennessee
  21. Lindl. - Jiangsu, Zhejiang
  22. M.Kim - Korea
formerly included[2]

A few names have been coined using the name Lycoris but referring to species now considered better suited to other genera (Griffinia and Ungernia). Here are links to help you find appropriate information.

Hybrids[2]
  • chejuensis K.H.Tae & S.C.Ko - Korea

Cultivation and uses[]

Lycoris are extensively cultivated as ornamental plants in China and Japan, and also in other warm temperate regions of the world. In Japan, they are widely used at the edges of rice paddy fields to provide a strip of bright flowers in the summer, and over 230 cultivars have been selected for garden use. They are locally naturalised in the southeastern United States, where they are often called hurricane flowers, due to their blooming period coinciding with the peak of hurricane season.[8] In China, people often use them as decorations in festivals or celebrations.

Legends[]

Since these scarlet flowers usually bloom near cemeteries around the autumnal equinox, they are described in Chinese and Japanese translations of the Lotus Sutra as ominous flowers that grow in Diyu (also known as Hell), or Huángquán (Simplified Chinese: 黄泉; Traditional Chinese: 黃泉), and guide the dead into the next reincarnation.

When the flowers of lycoris bloom, their leaves would have fallen; when their leaves grow, the flowers would have wilted. This habit gave rise to various legends. A famous one is the legend of two elves: Mañju (Simplified Chinese: 曼珠; Traditional Chinese: 曼珠), who guarded the flower, and Saka (Simplified Chinese: 沙华; Traditional Chinese: 沙華), who guarded the leaves. Out of curiosity, they defied their fate of guarding the herb alone, and managed to meet each other. At first sight, they fell in love with each other. God, exasperated by their waywardness, separated the miserable couple, and laid a curse on them as a punishment: the flowers of Mañju shall never meet the leaves of Saka again.

It was said that when the couple met after death in Diyu, they vowed to meet each other after reincarnation. However, neither of them could keep their word.

In commemoration of the couple, some call the herbs "Mañjusaka" (Simplified Chinese: 曼珠沙华; Traditional Chinese: 曼珠沙華), a mixture of "Mañju" and "Saka", instead of their scientific name. The same name is used in Japanese, in which it is pronounced manju-syage.

Some other legends have it that when a person sees someone that they may never meet again, these flowers, also called red spider lilies, would bloom along the path. Perhaps because of these sorrowful legends, Japanese people often used these flowers in funerals. Popular name Higanbana (彼岸花, Higan bana) of Japanese for lycoris is literally higan (the other or that shore of sanzu river) flower means, decorate and enjoyable, flower of afterlife in gokuraku jyōdo (極楽浄土, gokuraku jyōdo).

Gallery[]

  • Lycoris aurea, a species with long stamens

  • Lycoris aurea (yellow) and Lycoris radiata (red) in Chiba Japan

  • Lycoris radiata is an important cultural icon in Japan

  • Lycoris squamigera, a species with short stamens

  • Lycoris radiata, Red spider lily

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Herbert, William. 1820. Botanical Magazine 47: page 5 in commentary to plate 2113 in English
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Search for "Lycoris", World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2012-04-12
  3. ^ Stevens, P.F., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website: Asparagales: Amaryllidoideae
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b What is the Genus Lycoris?: Taxonomy Archived 2007-06-30 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b Flora of China: Lycoris 石蒜属 shi suan shu
  6. ^ Germplasm Resources Information Network: Lycoris
  7. ^ What is the Genus Lycoris?: Species Evolution by Hybridization in the genus Lycoris Archived 2009-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep255

External links[]

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