Description
(syn Crinum ammocharoides, C, bainesii. C. cordofanum, C. lastii, C. ondongense, C. poggei, C. rhodanthum, C. tinneanum, C. tinneae, C. thruppii)
A little-known species which can be distinguished from the similar Ammocharis coranica by the its thinner, more slender petals and the shorter flower stalks. In the light of it being rare in cultivation and less well-known than the South African A. coranica, it is ironic that it is is found over a huge range of Africa, south of the Sahara including Angola, Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire and Zimbabwe. Now regarded as an Ammocharis this started life as a Crinum and the many synonyms reflect its wide geographical distribution. It is named for the Dutch explorer Alexandrine Tinné, who collected the type in the Sudan in 1873.
Old, mature bulbs are often up to 10cm in diameter, though they are never anything like as large as A. coranica in our experience. This species blooms from dormant, leafless bulbs in the height of summer, when temperatures are at their very highest but when it gets rainfall or watering. It can also re-bloom if it is allowed to go dry and then re-watered. It does this with no further leaves being produced. Foliage is made in the autumn, when temperatures fall. The leaves are long and strappy, some 3cm wide when mature and they are made in two fans, which lie on the soil surface. In cultivation they develop to a nice length with tapered ends. Photos take in the wild, of show clipped-off leaves, due to grazing.
The flowers (up to 25) are made in a large umbel (to 25cm diameter) and are white when they open in the first evening, rapidly changing to pale pink by the next day, then darker pink, so that a large umbel can have colours ranging from white to near purple, depending on the age of the individual flowers in it. Each petal normally has a darker central stripe. The flowers are sweetly and deliciously scented.
In our climate, cultivation should be in a very well-drained medium through which plenty of water (and feeding) can be applied, but drain away freely. We use pumice and sand with some coarse organic matter. I have seen a 1:1 mix of drainage materials and coarse organic matter (such as chipped bark) recommended also. The plant is in leaf for much of the year but it is not evergreen with us. It is essential that it is forcibly dried off over summer, if you don’t want it to rot on you. Also spare the water in winter when light levels and temperatures are low and the plant does not need much or any water.
Younger bulbs need to be planted below the soil level, ignore pictures taken in the wild showing the bulbs exposed or growing half above the soil, this positioning is only applicable to mature bulbs. Supposedly hardy to -5C, we keep it frost-free in consideration of its wild range, where it is probably never exposed to frost. Half shade, especially in summer, is beneficial.
Picture from Wikipedia, Av Leyo – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5 ch,