Keyed Out #049 — Cardiocrinum giganteum

Question 1

Six identical petal-like {tepal}s spread in a regular star around six separate {stamen}s, with the ovary riding above where those parts attach.

Accepted Answer

lily family

Question 2

The spent flowers harden into a dry three-valved {capsule} that splits along three seams to shed a stack of flat, papery, winged seeds — never a soft, fleshy berry.

Accepted Answer

Liliaceae

Question 3

Its broad, glossy leaves are shaped like a heart and laced with a net of branching veins, not the narrow straps ruled by straight, parallel lines.

Accepted Answer

Cardiocrinum

Question 4

The {bulb} pours all its stored strength into one grand flowering and then dies outright, leaving a ring of offset {bulblet}s to carry on — it is {monocarpic}.

Accepted Answer

Cardiocrinum

Question 5

One unbranched stalk soars 6 to 12 feet (1.8 to 3.6 m) — taller than a standing adult — and lifts ten to twenty huge trumpets in a long spike, dwarfing the shorter, few-flowered kind.

Accepted Answer

Cardiocrinum giganteum

Question 6

Inside, its trumpets are clear white streaked with reddish-purple toward the throat, without the soft yellow-green wash that tints the smaller, fewer blooms of its lesser kin.

Accepted Answer

Cardiocrinum giganteum