Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
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Tuesday - September 30, 2008
From: Riverview, FL
Region: Southeast
Topic: Plant Identification
Title: Plant identification
Answered by: Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
I was just in Alabama this weekend and all alongside the road-side were these georgeous pink flowers. I finally stopped to pick one and thet are even prettier up close! The stem is smooth and leafless and about a 1/4 inch in diameter, perfectly cylinrical. The flower is actually a cluster of about 6 bright pink trumpet shaped blooms all coming from the center. Large darker pink stamens (or pistols - not sure) are curling upward from each blossom almost like a honeysuckle has. The entire flower measures about 4 inches in diameter and it's the prettiest pink with some bordering on salmon. Any ideas?ANSWER:
This sounds to me like Lycoris radiata (hurricane lily or red spider lily), a native of China and Japan that has become naturalized in the southeastern states. They are beautiful and often startling because their blooms suddenly appear where you've never seen them before. Here are some more photos. They are also known as naked ladies. Those are the stamens that protrude from the flowers.
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