This particular Crinum, Crinum scabrum, is commonly called the Milk and Wine Lily. It's a tough plant, with unruly, rubbery foliage and underground bulbs the size of softballs. It is a semi-tropical species, and will grow quite nicely in USDA Zones 8b and southward.
It hails from Africa. Its history and provenance is lost - mired within the colonial histories of Great Britain, the United States, Africa, and the Caribbean.
My bulbs came from a neglected curbside planting in a Gainesville, Florida neighborhood that was established in the 1950's. The bulbs arrived here more than 100 years before that (the city was founded in 1853). I admire them for their longevity and tenacity.
They bloom under the most adverse conditions, and require little care. I would not trade one Crinum bulb for 1oo of the finest Dutch tulips (which won't grow here anyway).
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