# Identify this flower? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 21, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259 "2008-07-21T15:39:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/1 "2008-07-21T15:39:57Z")
Can anyone tell me [what kind of lily this is](http://www.flickr.com/photos/troubleagain/2446148669/in/set-72157604441254540/)? It’s very sweet smelling, and has long, straight leaves. I, er, liberated it out of a cow pasture, so I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/2 "2008-07-21T16:13:39Z")
Size of flower? General geographic location? By “liberate”, do you mean you dug it up, or merely picked it? If you dug it up, did it have a rhizome, a tuber, a corm, a bulb, or a mat of roots? Immediate response, American Midwest, just off the top of my head: “that’s a cultivated garden lily, known as Asiatic lily, you can get cultivars to naturalize in your meadow”. [http://www.vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?\_fn=Product&\_category=Lilies:NatMix](http://www.vanengelen.com/catview.cgi?_fn=Product&_category=Lilies:NatMix) How long has the cow pasture been devoted to cows? ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/3 "2008-07-21T16:25:55Z")
Showing the stem and leaves is important. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/4 "2008-07-21T17:18:21Z")
It looks like some sort of lily. If it’s small it could be a [dog-toothed violet](http://www.data2action.com/wildflowers/dogtooth.shtml), but they are usually on single stems. They come in in many colors, the one shown is white. the ones in my yard are lavender. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/5 "2008-07-21T19:37:43Z")
Looks like a [crinium](http://herselfshoustongarden.com/2007/09/giant-crinum-lily-crinum-asiaticum.html) to me. I’ve got the milk-and-wine type; they come in many types & colors. Is there a large stem which comes up, with a bud at the top which opens to let the blooms out? ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/6 "2008-07-21T20:18:38Z")
It’s a huge bulb, which was dug up. It had a large single stem of flowers on it. The flowers were about 3 inches across, and as you can see, there were several of them. I don’t have a better picture here at work. I thought it might be a crinium, too, but the petals on the crinium pictures I saw looked a lot thinner, where these are sort of rounded a bit. Oh, and I’m in Florida. I doubt it’s a native–probably someone either tossed it out, or else it seeded there from someone’s yard. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/7 "2008-07-21T20:22:20Z")
[QUOTE=picunurse] It looks like some sort of lily. If it’s small it could be a [dog-toothed violet](http://www.data2action.com/wildflowers/dogtooth.shtml), but they are usually on single stems. They come in in many colors, the one shown is white. the ones in my yard are lavender. [/QUOTE] Not Erythronium…the flowers in the OP are facing upward, and Erythronium nods. A lot depends on location, too…if it’s too far north, it’s probably not Crinum. Edited to add: Huge bulb sounds like Crinum. There are a LOT of varieties, with a lot of different petal shapes. It very well could be, especially as far south as Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/8 "2008-07-21T21:04:55Z")
If it’s not a crinium, I think its an [Amatasco lily](http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=atamasco+lily&spell=1) . ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/9 "2008-07-21T21:28:54Z")
[QUOTE=Bewildebeest] If it’s not a crinium, I think its an [Amatasco lily](http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=atamasco+lily&spell=1) . [/QUOTE] I’ve heard that called Rain lily. Seems shorter than the OP’s flower, though. Criniums can have fatter petals: [http://www.amaryllis-plus.com/catalogue/milk&wine.jpg](http://www.amaryllis-plus.com/catalogue/milk&wine.jpg) As jayjay says, Criniums come in many many types. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/10 "2008-07-21T21:41:39Z")
[Crinum bulbs](http://www.dkimages.com/discover/previews/754/311878.JPG) [Atamasco (Zephyranthes) lily](http://flickr.com/photos/66286183@N00/2292836082) There is a significant difference in size. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/11 "2008-07-22T16:10:54Z")
Well, the leaves look more like the ones in \*\*NinetyWt’s \*\* crinium picture, but the bulbs look more like the ones in \*\*jayjay’s \*\* atamasco picture, only really big (the biggest was probably 4-5 inches across.) The blades are broad. The flowers look like the crinium in the picture (except pale pink, of course), but the bulbs are big and rounded. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/12 "2008-07-22T16:20:54Z")
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain] Well, the leaves look more like the ones in \*\*NinetyWt’s \*\* crinium picture, but the bulbs look more like the ones in \*\*jayjay’s \*\* atamasco picture, only really big (the biggest was probably 4-5 inches across.) The blades are broad. The flowers look like the crinium in the picture (except pale pink, of course), but the bulbs are big and rounded. [/QUOTE] Most true bulbs look about the same (except true lilies (Lilium spp.), which are much looser), it’s just the size that’s different. There are only so many ways to wrap a bunch of leaves around a bud, after all. Crinum bulbs are big and rounded…the cylindrical things you’re seeing in the crinum bulb picture are the bases of the stems coming out of the tops of the bulbs in that clump. I’ll make a leap of faith and say that I think your flower is a crinum or something very closely related. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-flower/457259/13 "2008-07-23T01:22:58Z")
I’m thinking you’re right! My favorite thing about it is a sweet, sweet smell. It’s intoxicating!