SPIDER LILY (Crinum Asiaticum)
This handsome lily plant is native to Southeast Asia and can be seen not only growing wild in swamps but also in many garden plantings, thanks to its ability to tolerate a wide range of conditions including strong sea winds. It is known by many other names such as Bakung, Bawang Hutan, Poison Bulb, Seashore Crinum & Crinum Lily, the Spider Lily is a a bulb bearing herb that can grow up to 1.8 m tall with a rosette of leaves at the top of its stem. Its stalkless leaves have leaf blades that are lance shaped, light green and have prominent parallel veins, with many cross veins. The night-fragrant flowers grown in a cluster at the top of a long stalk. Its fleshy fruits are irregularly rounded. It can be found along the forest borders, mangrove forests, sandy shores and water edges. The plant is used medicinally for treating breast infections and wounds, haemorrhoids and inflammation, as a diuretic, as a poultice for closed fractures, contusions, rheumatism and sprains, to aid getting rid of excess water from the body, and for easing childbirth. The flowers which appears frequently on stalks in a sunburst arrangements are white and fragrant. The root is used as a poultice for treating wounds, while the poisonous juice acts as a purgative.