Queen Of The Shoals

By Tom Poland

 

Her May-June reign approaches. The rocky shoals spider lily, Hymenocallis coronaria, will soon flaunt her crown of white, green, and gold. Exquisite, ephemeral, and periled. Much of her habitat lies beneath lakes. Today, with so many shoals beneath lakes, this tenacious plant has little habitat to cling to. It’s a national plant of concern. She rules just three states: Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama.

You’ll find the world’s largest colony at Landsford Canal State Park in Chester County, South Carolina. My preferred shoals are Georgia’s Anthony Shoals on the Broad River and Stevens Creek (more like a river) in McCormick County, South Carolina.

Exquisite and ephemeral, the blooms open at night and last but a day. Long white tepals and staminal cup, green bracts, mint green accents, gold stamens, and bright-to-dark green stigma bring that spider name into play. I prefer crown, even better, diadem. After all, we’re talking botanical royalty here.

A survivor of the pre-European landscape, shoals lilies prefer rocky rivers, plummeting elevation, and clean, free-flowing water. When you behold shoals lilies you glimpse what the Piedmont looked like before big dams rose.

In 1783 William Bartram, the first botanist to observe the species, described it as the “odoriferous Pancratium fluitans which almost alone possesses the little rocky islets.”

Your senses come alive in the lilies’ presence. You’re on high alert. One sunny May day I waded out and leaned over a bloom to take in her fragrance. A subtle lemony-sugary perfume rose. I dare not touch blooms lest I mar them, but I know they feel satiny. I love the soothing white noise of running water. I’ve not tasted their nectar but mayhaps it’s similar to honeysuckle. Some of you suckers know what I mean.

For me, another sense kicks in … my sense of balance as I hopscotch across stones to get a better photo. And yet another sense comes into play: ESP. Sometimes I see old Bartram leaning over to give his long keen nose a whiff of a bloom. He makes notes in his leather journal, sees me, and waves. Fancy that.

To be around shoals lilies is to be around butterflies, damselflies, and hummingbirds. You’re as alive as can be. At Anthony Shoals an osprey dove right in front of lilies. He couldn’t lift the fish he caught, sat there a second, then flew away to try again. My favorite haunt is Anthony Shoals because it’s wild, home to nesting bald eagles, and because my mother took me there as a boy. It tugs at my heart.

Those splendid blooms … They open at night and last a day. Long white tepals and staminal cup, green bracts, green accents, gold stamens, and green stigma that bring that spider name into play. I think of her crown as a diadem. After all, we’re talking botanical royalty here.

I see you have a question.

“Yes. The rocky shoals spider, tell me, it’s really not a true lily is it?”

No. They’re cousins of daffodils, but “lily” sticks. Folks in Alabama call it the Cahaba lily; some call her the shoal lily. In Georgia, she’s usually called shoals spider lily. Most botanists and conservationists call her the “rocky shoals spider lily,” a name arising from her preferred habitat: rivers where fast-flowing, oxygen-rich water runs over rocks, i.e. shoals.

This stunning perennial grows three feet high in direct sunlight. Flowing water carries her seeds and bulbs away and when they land in a rocky crevice, a colony forms—if the right conditions exist. Man’s dams did away with many of the right conditions, i.e. rocky shoals.

I explore places where a world exists before cement, wires, and electricity changed things. When I find rocky shoals spider lilies, I’ve found such a place. You can too. May-June head to Landsford Canal, head to Stevens Creek. Head to daunting Anthony Shoals, if you dare. It’s remote and rugged. A steep bluff must be conquered. One if by land; two if by water. Water’s easiest, skipper.

The flowers won’t last long, so don’t tarry. Go and come away with memories of a place artist Philip Juras described as a “watershed where the sound of a wild river still rises from such a wide swath of bedrock.”

You’ll never forget the showy, exquisite rocky shoals spider lilies, botanical royalty. So mark your calendar for May-June. The flowers are rare and they only bloom a short while. It is, indeed, a transient spectacle.

 

Photo by Tom Poland.

Georgia native Tom Poland writes a weekly column about the South, its people, traditions, lifestyle, and culture and speaks frequently to groups in the South. Governor Henry McMaster conferred the Order of the Palmetto upon Tom, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, stating, “His work is exceptional to the state.” Poland’s work appears in books, magazines, journals, and newspapers throughout the South.

Visit Tom’s website at www.tompoland.net

Email him at [email protected]