Les Jones

I don't know what they are, but they scare me.

It's a spider lily...I just posted one on Flickr the other day.

It's a spiderlily (Hymenocallis). Dunno what species, although it looks to me like the one that's native to East Tennessee (caroliniana or occidentalis, depending on who you ask). Also, see how the cup in the middle of the flower looks sort of like a daffodil? That's cause it's not actually a lily, but instead is in the amaryllis family.

Cool plant. Where'd you see it?

Gnightgirl: it definitely has a Morticia Adams quality in B&W, dunnit?

Mushy and Steve: thanks for the ID.

Steve: It's in our flower garden. A neighbor has some we liked, so Melissa bought these last year. She just couldn't remember what they were called.

After looking at some spider lily pics online (Mushy's included) I think this is a different plant. None of the spider lily pics I see online have that long cone surrounding the reproductive organs.

It's definitely a spider lily, although I'm thinking now it's not our native one -- the "petals" should be flat rather than in a funnel shape, although I suppose maybe they can sometimes be like that when early on. Can't remember.

* btw, if you look closely, those aren't petals, but are the fused stalks of the stamens. The actual petals/sepals are the long, thin white things. Also, I'm sure you don't care, but the daffodil comparison was a total brain fart -- while those two genera are related, the tube-like shape of some spiderlily flowers is something altogether different from the trumpet in a daffodil (which aren't petals either, but I'll shut up now).

I think you may be right about the wild vs. poodle version. I looked through the other pics and this one looks a lot more like the pictures I've seen online.