This week for Flora and Fauna Friday it’s our native Easter-time lily, the Rain Lily (Zephyranthes atamasca).
Also known as the Atamasco or Zephyr Lily, the Rain Lily is found across the Southeast, including much of South Carolina. It’s typically found underneath forests along river floodplains or swamps and proliferates most on damp soils in partial shade. Like our other Lilies, Rain Lily is a bulb plant and can tolerate a wide range of site conditions thanks to this bulb. It will also spread to create sparse colonies in good habitat. The Rain Lily’s leaves are thin and grass-like, arching up out of and back down onto the surface of the soil. Rain Lily blooms in early spring, about the time we get our first spring rains, and will continue through April in ideal conditions. Its flowers are a large, ice-white, six-petalled trumpet with golden anthers and a lime-green center. Flowers are usually held pointing straight up and only a foot or so above the ground. Rain Lily is very tolerant of a wide range of soils here in the Lowcountry and can be a great edition to home gardens, reliably providing a burst of spring color every year, like a daffodil or narcissus would. They are also a good pollinator plant, being frequented by many species of large bees and butterflies.
