The beach spider lily is one of those plants that looks rather innocuous for most of the year. Once mis-summer comes along, the flowers make it into a rather delightful perennial. The plant gets its common name from the fact that it grows near the coast in its native habitat. Its binomial name, Hymenocallis littoralis has the following meaning:

• Hymenocallis-the Greek word for ‘membraned beauty’, which refers to the flowera
• Littoralis-the Latin word for ‘growing by the sea’

As a native to more tropical areas of South America, including Brazil, Columbia, Belize and Venezuela among others needs full sun to part shade to grow to its full potential.

From doing some reading, the beach spider lily needs moist, well-drained soil. From where I have seen it growing, it is a tougher plant than it would appear. While the plants in the photos I have would ideally have a little more water, they are still flowering well and sit in the full, hot summer sun all day at this time of year here in Sydney.

The green, strappy leaves are the background to the large white flowers that look like spiders. Each flower has a central cup-like feature with six really long petals.

That’s all the information I have on beach spider lily. A delightful plant that is grown for its flowers in summer.