Crinum x Herbertii (Crinum bulbispermum x Crinum scabrum) 20170518_203557

Hello fellow friendly Florida flower lovers,

I am in love, with this flower. At the end of last week I took a hike to blow off some of the steam I built up by being stuck inside my house for most of the day. I got 3 miles from my house when the sunset, turns out I should have planned my walk better to avoid walking in the dark. In any case I smelled something intoxicating in the mild breeze and followed my nose to this beauty.

I present to you the Crinum bulbispermum x Crinum scabrum, ok, I think it's of the cross with Scabrum, but crossing Crinum with all manner of other Crinum is very popular and tracking down the exact mix is hard to do! Crinum are members of the Amaryllidaceae family of flowering plants, does that sound familiar to you? Well it should because the beautiful and similar looking Amaryllis is the eponymous member of this family and so are the Allium, which are made up of onions and garlic. This reminds me, one of my favorite sayings is, you can gauge your comfort in a relationship by the amount of garlic you eat together. Ok, I made that up, but I’m hoping it catches on.

Amaryllidaceae are a complicated group of plants, for over a hundred years scientists have been trying to sort out what exactly is an Amaryllidaceae and what exactly is a Liliaceae (Lily). Look it up, it's hard to do. Well in any case I have a fun fact for you, most living things cannot eat onions because within onions exists a compound called thiosulfinate. In most animals thiosulfinate actually attack red blood cells and can lead to death, however Hominidae and several other families of animals have evolved a chemical pathway that allows us to react thiosulfinate with the cyanide in our blood to clear out both the thiosulfinate and the cyanide while enjoying our mirepoix. If this all seems strange to you, check out the active ingredients in Cyanokit (Cyanide antidote).

Today's mission (number 2) should you choose to accept it, is to find a Crinum in your neighbourhood, capture a photo and post it in the comments below. WE will also accept Lily since apparently even science has trouble telling the two apart.

As always, the two original photos with the most likes at the end of the week will be featured here on Saturday and Sunday for everyone to enjoy.

Be sure to check out @localbeautytampabay on Instagram, from time to time we will post our B-roll pictures for your enjoyment.

www.instagram.com/localbeautytampabay/

Don't forget to take more water than you think you will need on your flower hike!

XoXo

Did you know that Local Beauty doesn’t actually own a DSLR camera? All of our pictures are taken on cellphones or very old point and shoot cameras at our own time and expense. We are trying to raise money to buy a proper DSLR camera that can shoot photos in RAW. If you would like to help Support our mission to bring the beauty of Tampa bay to your Facebook wall consider supporting us by making a donation through Patreon at the link below.

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