Species
+

Crinum asiaticum L.

Asiatic poisonbulb, Asiatic poisonbulb, Bisechrangebard, Chirongu masera

Climate known 61 photographs Bulb, tuber or caudex
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Crinum asiaticum, commonly known as poison bulb, giant crinum lily, grand crinum lily, or spider lily, is a plant species widely planted in many warmer regions as an ornamental. It is a bulb-forming perennial producing an umbel of large, showy flowers that are prized by gardeners. However, all parts of the plant are poisonous if ingested. Some reports indicate exposure to the sap may cause skin irritation.

Text from Wikipedia, “Crinum asiaticum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Crinum

Crinum is a genus of about 180 species of perennial plants that have large showy flowers on leafless stems, and develop from bulbs. They are found in seasonally moist areas, including marshes, swamps, depressions and along the sides of streams and lakes in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide.

Text from Wikipedia, “Crinum”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Amaryllidaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues +42
Wild records
1218 in range· 740 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
Aug, mean day; nights 24 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1720mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 173 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–36DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to March in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 1720 mm a year, wettest May at 173 mm, driest October at 102 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 36 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 9.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Bulbine asiatica (L.) Gaertn.; Crinum australe Donn; Crinum brevifolium Roxb.; Crinum canaliculatum Roxb. ex KerGawl.; Crinum macrocarpum Carey and 7 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a bulb, tuber or caudex by Amaryllidaceae, which is usually but not always one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (August to March in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (1272 mm of 1720 mm) takes 8 months, February to September. Mean temperature moves 4.3 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: August to March.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1720 mm a year, wettest May at 173 mm, driest October at 102 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1720 mm a year at the habitat, 1272 mm of it February to September. Wettest month May at 173 mm, driest October at 102 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1133 mm to 3199 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 36 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 15, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 9.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 9.9 °C, the absolute minimum 4.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.4 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.1 °C in November (across the envelope cells 12.6 °C to 25.5 °C), warmest day 27.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 9.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 24 °C in Nov to 27 °C in Aug; mean night from 19 °C in Nov to 24 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Oct to Dec, is the three months around the coldest night. 1720 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 811 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 4.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°30.4° 99th-percentile day (undated)4.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 30–36RH 61–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 811 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 12–2926 / 12–2925 / 15–3024 / 19–3025 / 19–3026 / 17–3027 / 16–3027 / 17–3027 / 20–2925 / 21–2924 / 18–2825 / 14–28
Night °C20 / 6–2621 / 7–2620 / 10–2620 / 14–2622 / 14–2622 / 12–2724 / 10–2724 / 11–2722 / 13–2621 / 15–2619 / 13–2620 / 8–26
Rain mm106 / 20–302141 / 24–314149 / 41–290151 / 65–251173 / 90–302166 / 78–397158 / 61–366163 / 55–370171 / 49–368102 / 53–319121 / 46–271119 / 23–265
DLI35 / 15–4236 / 19–4032 / 25–4232 / 25–4031 / 20–3730 / 17–3630 / 18–3932 / 24–3733 / 28–3735 / 24–4033 / 18–4232 / 15–43
RH %62 / 55–6762 / 55–6862 / 56–6862 / 59–6863 / 59–6864 / 57–6964 / 56–7064 / 55–6963 / 56–6761 / 57–6661 / 57–6661 / 55–67

Each figure is the median across the 811 grid cells holding the 1167 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1310:6036 (24.475, 121.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 4.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 9.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 811 distinct grid cells holding the 1167 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1310:6036 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 24.50_121.875, lapse-corrected +76 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 330 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMauritius, Réunion, Rodrigues, Seychelles, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Cocos (Keeling) I., Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Is., Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland, Fiji, Gilbert Is., New Caledonia, Samoa, Vanuatu· introduced: Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Madagascar, Nauru, Phoenix Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Is., Line Is., Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Hawaii, Florida, Louisiana, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is.
Kew's description“bulbous geophyte” · “wet tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker-28.8, 153.517 · in the densest population, 349 records (29% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 1218 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 740 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1 km away. 500 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 51 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1218 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Crinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticumCrinum asiaticum

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (5); (c) Jhonatan Matheus, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Crinum asiaticum, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Morphological and molecular characterization of Colletotrichum boninense sp. nov. from Japan
Jouji Moriwaki, Toyozo Sato, Takao Tsukiboshi (2003) · Mycoscience
Response surface method was used to optimize the ultrasonic assisted extraction of flavonoids from Crinum asiaticum
Miao Yu, Bing Wang, Qi Zheng, Guosong Xin (2019) · Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences
Chemical Constituents of Crinum asiaticum L. var. sinicum Baker and Their Cytotoxic Activities
Qian Sun, Yun‐Heng Shen, Jun‐Mian Tian, Jian Tang (2009) · Chemistry & Biodiversity
Inhibitory effects of Korean plants on HIV‐1 activities
Byung Sun Min, Young Ho Kim, Miyuki Tomiyama, Norio Nakamura (2001) · Phytotherapy Research
Cytotoxic Alkaloids and a Flavan from the Bulbs of Crinum asiaticum var. japonicum.
Byung Sun MIN, Jiang Jing Gao, Norio Nakamura, Young Ho Kim (2001) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Comprehensive Study of Alkaloids from Crinum asiaticum var. sinicum Assisted by HPLC-DAD-SPE-NMR
Chien‐Kuang Chen, Feng-Hsu Lin, Li‐Hong Tseng, Chia-Ling Jiang (2011) · Journal of Natural Products
Electrochemical investigation of crinum asiaticum-like BaO-CeO2 nanostructure for high-performance asymmetric supercapacitor
Rushikesh G. Bobade, Bidhan Pandit, Akhil Pradiprao Khedulkar, Vijay S. Raykar (2025) · Inorganic Chemistry Communications
Anti-inflammatory activity of Crinum asiaticum plant and its effect on bradykinin-induced contractions on isolated uterus
Awatef M. Samud, Mohd Zaini Asmawi, Jagdish N. Sharma, A.P.M. Yusof (1999) · Immunopharmacology
Comparative antioxidant and antimicrobial potentials of leaf successive extract fractions of poison bulb, Crinum asiaticum L.
Souren Goswami, Ria Das, Poulomi Ghosh, Tista Chakraborty (2020) · Industrial Crops and Products
Palmilycorine and lycoriside: acyloxy and acylglucosyloxy alkaloids from crinum asiaticum
Shibnath Ghosal, Amirthalingam Shanthy, Anand Kumar, Yatendra Kumar (1985) · Phytochemistry

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Crinum 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 104 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.