Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden, South Africa

Family: Amaryllidaceae (Amaryllis)

Distribution: Southern Africa to Eastern Africa

Habitat: Grassland and deciduous woodland, usually on sandy soils

National red list: Least Concern

Life form: Geophyte (bulb, corm or tuber - seasonally dormant)

Comments: Although Crinum stuhmannii is still very widespread and quite common, all Crinum spp. are heavily harvested for the medicinal plant trade with users and market traders not distinguishing between species. Crinum bulbispermum, C. stuhlmannii, C. macowanii and C. moorei are most commonly found in the markets. Cunningham (1988) estimated that 122 bags of Crinum spp. were sold between 54 traders in the Durban markets at one time. Williams (2007) recorded that the Crinum stuhlmannii occurred in 28% of muthi shops in Johannesburg in 1994, and was sold by 9% of the traders at the Faraday Street muthi market. Crinum stuhlmannii may be the most prevalent of the Crinum species in markets based on bulbs that were bought from the Faraday muthi market and grown to flower in research. The bulbs are generally very large, often have sand around the base and cost R50-R60 for one bulb (by comparison, one can usually purchase several bulbs of other species for R10-R20). One trader in the market said that the bulbs he sold had come from Mangusi near Kosi Bay, corroborated by matching sand adhering to the bulb. Bulbs are very slow growing and old and tend to be found in clusters of 3-4 bulbs. While not as vulnerable as Crinum moorei with the smallest distribution, long term population decline of all these species is likely because very big, old bulbs are being harvested and sold in the market approximate average sizes in the range 8 - 20 cm in diameter.