What kind of growing environment suits the red spider lily?
Other names for the red spider lily
Wuyi grass, dragon claw flower, ghost torch fire, phantom flower, hell flower, shizi flower, shanwudu, flower of life and death, flower that never sees its leaves, ghost's umbrella, soul-guiding flower, guiding flower, Wangchuan flower, shixuan, red-flowered shixuan, and so on.
Morphological characteristics
The red spider lily is a perennial herbaceous flower of the Amaryllidaceae family. The flower resembles a dragon's claw. It has a bulb shaped like an onion head; the leaves grow in clusters, slender with pointed tips, shaped like garlic leaves, fleshy, strap-shaped, green with a white powdery coating; the flower stalk is solitary, with a terminal umbel. At the turn of summer and autumn, the flower stalk breaks through the soil, and a terminal umbel bears5to7flowers, brilliantly red and unusual (besides red there is also a white variety), with petals curled back like a dragon's claw. It blooms first and grows leaves later; in winter the leaves do not fall, and in summer the leaves fall and it goes dormant. Because the flower and the leaves cannot meet, shixuan is also called the "heartless and faithless" flower. The three days around the spring equinox are called the spring equinox, and the three days around the autumn equinox are called the autumn equinox. The red spider lily blooms during the autumn equinox period, very punctually, which is why it is called the equinox flower.
Living habits of the red spider lily
Wild varieties of the red spider lily grow in gloomy, damp places (graves or small rural roadsides), and its growing site is red soil, so it is highly cold-resistant, shade-loving, and can tolerate a high-temperature limit of a daily average temperature of24°C; it likes moisture but also tolerates drought, is accustomed to slightly acidic soil, and prefers loose, fertile humus soil. It has a summer dormancy habit and is extremely easy to propagate; usually a single shixuan can very easily develop into a whole patch of shixuan.
The flower language and legends of the red spider lily
In Japan, the three days around the autumn equinox are called the autumn, and they are days when Japanese people visit graves. The red spider lily blooms during the autumn period, very punctually, which is why it is called the equinox flower. The flower language of the red spider lily is sad memories.
The red spider lily is a flower that voluntarily threw itself into hell, was sent back by the demons, yet still lingered on the road to the Yellow Springs. The demons could not bear it, so they agreed to let her bloom on this road, giving guidance and comfort to the souls leaving the human world. The colors are divided into blood red and white; yellow and peach pink are shixuan, and there is no purple, blue, or black. Enma Ai in Hell Girl likes this kind of flower, and its flower language is the tenderness of a demon.
Snow-white and blood-red red spider lilies together represent death. It is said that the white mandala flower blooms on the road to heaven, while the red mandala flower covers the road to hell. One flower language of the white mandala flower is "a letter from heaven," and one flower language of the red mandala flower is "the call of hell." Both represent death, yet one leans toward another interpretation of death: rebirth, while the other leans toward wandering and hesitation between pain and regret: falling. So hell and heaven are separated by only a thin line. The so-called difference between angels and demons is nothing more than color and the meaning they carry.
The uses of the red spider lily
Red-flowered shixuan is a common ornamental garden plant in East Asia; its leaves are enjoyed in winter and its flowers in autumn. This flower is mostly used for planting in villa gardens, generally planted by the hundreds or thousands together, and it blooms in large numbers in autumn, with an excellent landscape effect.
Although shixuan is highly ornamental, its rhizome is toxic. The bulb contains the alkaloid lycorine, which can cause symptoms such as vomiting and spasms and has a clear effect on the central nervous system. It must not be eaten casually, but it can be used for sedation, inhibition of drug metabolism, and anticancer effects. Although it is toxic, the bulb can be eaten after processing and is also used as a medicinal material. Galantamine extracted from the rhizome of shixuan can be used to treat polio; it has already begun to be used abroad, and experts in our country are also carrying out in-depth research.
Medicinally, the bulb contains a variety of alkaloids, such as lycorine, lycoramine, galantamine, and others. It has the effects of dispelling wind and reducing swelling, and of detoxifying and fighting cancer. It is used to treat stomach cancer, esophageal cancer, and liver cancer, and has been tried in the treatment of lung cancer, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer, and lymphoma.