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Crinum moorei is a herbaceous plant belonging to the family Amaryllidaceae, and native to South Africa (the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal).
The Natal lily, Crinum moorei, with its large, white to pinkish red, open tubular flowers, literally glows in the dappled shade of the century-old plane tree avenue in the KwaZulu-Natal National Botanical Gardens in Pietermaritzburg during midsummer (October to January).
It is one of the larger members of the world-wide tropical to temperate ornamental lily family, Amaryllidaceae. The family includes the European narcissi and daffodils but also gardeners' favourites from southern Africa such as Amaryllis, Haemanthus, Scadoxus, Clivia, Brunsvigia, Boophone and Cyrtanthus (see the plant index or search for pages about these plants).
The large bulb (up to 200 mm in diameter) of Crinum moorei rests just under the surface of the soil but has a an elongate neck which protrudes a further 200-300 mm above ground. The long, flat, dark green leaves (up to 1 m long and about 200 mm wide), emerge in a rosette from the neck which also produces a long flowering stalk in summer of 1.2 m or more, topped by 5-10 large, open, white to pale pink flowers.
