Japanese name: タマスダレ（玉簾、珠簾） Scientific name:Zephyranthes candida
[Overview]
An evergreen perennial about 20–30 cm tall.
It has an underground bulb.
The leaves are alternate, 20–30 cm long and 4–5 mm wide, fleshy and linear, and about 10 grow in a tuft.
A single white flower is borne at the tip of a 20–30 cm flower stalk.
The flower is 4–5 cm across and faces upward; the perianth is 6-lobed, and the outer base of the tepals is tinged with pale pink.
Each flower closes after 1–3 days, but flower stalks keep appearing one after another, so the flowering period is long.
The fruit is a capsule, but many plants set almost no seed.
[History]
It was discovered in 1822 and arrived in Japan around 1870, in the early Meiji period.
It is a hardy herb and sometimes becomes naturalized in warm regions.
[Cultivation]
Propagate by dividing the bulbs.
It prefers a fertile, well-drained site in sun to partial shade.
Water when the soil surface has dried.
For plants in the garden, water if there are several days without rain.
In addition to a basal fertilizer, give a potassium-rich fertilizer after flowering.
There are no particular pests or diseases.
[Notes]
The leaves and bulbs contain a toxic component called lycorine, and there have been accidents in which it was eaten by mistake for nira (garlic chives), asatsuki (chives) or nobiru (wild onion).
