''Pancratium maximum'' is a
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
glabrous
herb
In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...
that grows up to 30 cm tall arising from a bulb. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to south western
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
.
Characteristics
''Pancratium maximum'' is a perennial glabrous herb up to 20 cm tall arising from a
bulb
In botany, a bulb is structurally a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...
. The bulb is globose, 4–6 cm in diameter, narrowed above into a cylindrical neck, covered with several layers of dark reddish brown papery tunics. Leaves 2–7 cm long, variable in width, linear-elliptic to narrowly elliptic or ovate and abruptly narrowed into a
petiole below, 10–30 cm long x 2.3–18 cm across. The flower is white with yellow
anther
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...
s and black angular seeds.
Habitat
''Pancratium maximum'' flowers during the monsoon rains. It grows throughout the areas in
Dhofar
The Dhofar Governorate ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ظُفَار, Muḥāfaẓat Ẓufār) is the largest of the 11 Governorates in the Sultanate of Oman in terms of area. It lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen's Al Mahrah Gov ...
affected by the monsoon and can be seen in a variety of different environments including coastal plains, wooded mountain slopes,
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
s and high plateaus at the back of mountains..
Uses
''Pancratium maximum'' is completely useless as fodder for livestock. The bulb and the leaves are toxic to all livestock.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q15522778
maximum
In mathematical analysis, the maxima and minima (the respective plurals of maximum and minimum) of a function, known collectively as extrema (the plural of extremum), are the largest and smallest value of the function, either within a given ran ...