Once an old pass-along bulb, the `spider lily´ Lycorus radiata is now commercially in demand. It is reported that many mail-order sources offer a different European strain than these acquired from a lifelong Texas gardener.

The girls are also known as `naked ladies´ because they bloom in September on leafless stalks. Their ground-level straps of foliage emerges later, to generate the bulb´s food stores during cooler months. Some years, the bulbs fail to bloom without any discernable reason.