蜘蛛百合/Spider Lily

Calm, steady green

Clear, ethereal white

For the scorching midsummer

Bringing a hint of coolness

 

Although maintaining a lush, evergreen posture all year round, once summer arrives, without the persistent calls of the cicadas, they would not walk out of the shade to participate in this grand gathering blessed by brilliant sunlight.

 

I have always called her "Spider Lily" because her English name is just that, but now I finally know she has a Chinese name: "Chela Flower" (Crab-claw Flower). The leaves emerging from the base of this flower are like swords pointing straight ahead; their thick, fleshy texture, combined with being smooth and hairless on both sides, makes them the snails' favorite food plant. Places that have been sucked on have weakened veins, unable to support the long leaves, so they automatically bow their heads. To prevent the snails from over-eating, "catching snails" has become a daily routine; especially on rainy days, I catch over twenty at a time, and on normal days there are always five or six. After catching them, I send them to the nearby woods to continue their days of "slow living."

 

How the two Spider Lily bulbs arrived a few years ago, I cannot recall at the moment, but most likely they came from my sister who cherishes flowers and plants. When with my sister, there are always endless "flower stories" to talk about; endless "flower poems" to recite. During video calls, we also share inspirations or creations sparked by nature, for example: how flowers meet pottery; when moss finds dead wood; how a clump of withered grass snuggling in the corner of a wall continues to tell their story. Such similar genes definitely come from Mother.

 

Mother’s front courtyard was planted with many flowers. Thrifty by nature, she couldn't bear to spend money buying pots to plant flowers, always using broken basins and bowls to raise plants; even a wok with a broken bottom could be used to raise Christmas Cactus, using three picked-up broken bricks to secure the bottom of the pan—when they bloomed, it was breathtaking. A discarded plastic bucket, half a person high, raised white lotuses that never missed a summer.When we grew up and had the ability to buy Mom a few flower pots, we were always nagged for being wasteful. Now thinking of Mom’s daily routine of cherishing objects, it was actually priceless teaching by example.

 

I planted the two Spider Lily bulbs on the windward side of the garden. Amidst constant propagation and blooming, through the invasion of several typhoons and strong winds, they only tilted slightly and recovered in less than a week. The Spider Lily, native to the Windward Islands of the Caribbean Sea, can bloom for a whole summer on our island. The calm, steady green and the clear, ethereal white perhaps can bring a hint of coolness to the scorching midsummer!

 

Recently, cicadas are singing everywhere, audible from morning to night. Amidst these lively calls, the Spider Lilies, one by one, two by two... extend pale green flower stems from the leaf axils at the base. The flower tubes clustered at the top are as white as snow. When blooming, the slender main corolla, the closely connected web-like corona, and the apple-green, slender, and delicate filaments carrying the tasked anthers—this lightness carrying a faint fragrance, it is no surprise she won the flower language of "Natural Beauty." Watching their beautiful bodies swaying gently in the breeze, what comes to mind is how the spherical bulbs buried deep underground worked hard to accumulate nutrients, waiting for the sound of the cicadas to rise.

 

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沈著穩定的綠

清亮飄逸的白

為酷熱的盛夏

帶來些微涼意

                                       

 

雖然終年保持豐美常綠的姿態，但是一到夏天，沒有知了們苦苦地呼喚，她們是不會走出陰涼，參與這場在燦爛陽光祝福下的盛會的。

 

一直稱呼她叫「蜘蛛百合」，是因為英文名叫「Spider Lily」，現在終於知道她有一個華文名字「螯蟹花」。這花從基部冒出的葉片，猶如劍一般直對前方，質地厚實的肉質特色，再加上兩面光滑無毛，是蝸牛最喜歡的食草，被吸食過的地方葉脈變弱，無法支撐長長的葉片，就自動低頭。為了不讓蝸牛過度啃食，因此「抓牛」成為每日例行工作，尤其碰上雨天，一抓就是二十多隻，平時五六隻總有的，抓了後把牠們送到鄰近的樹林裡繼續牠們「慢活」的日子。

 

幾年前的兩球蜘蛛百合鱗莖是如何來的，一時也想不起來，但最有可能應該是來自惜花愛草的妹妹。跟妹妹在一起總有話不完的「花事」；吟不盡的「花詩」。視訊時，也會分享大自然啟發我們的發想或創作，例如：花如何與陶相遇；當青苔找上枯木時；一叢偎在牆角的枯草如何繼續說著她們的故事。這樣的相似基因絕對是來自母親的。

 

母親的前庭種了好多的花，生性節儉捨不得花錢買盆種花，總是用破了的盆啊缽啊養花花草草，甚至破了底的炒菜鍋也可以拿來養蟹爪蘭，用三塊撿來的破磚頭固定鍋底，花開時令人驚艷，一個半人高的廢棄塑膠桶，養了夏日不會缺席的白荷。我們長大有能力可以給媽媽買幾個花盆時，總是被叨念浪費，現在想起媽媽的惜物日常，其實就是無價的身教。

 

把兩顆蜘蛛百合鱗莖種在園中的迎風面，在不斷繁殖和開花中，幾度颱風和強風的侵襲，她們只是微微傾斜，不到一個星期就恢復了。原產加勒比海（Caribbean Sea）的向風群島（Windward Islands）的蜘蛛百合，在我們的島嶼可以綻放一個夏，沈著穩定的綠跟清亮飄逸的白，或許可以為酷熱的盛夏帶來些微涼意吧！

 

最近蟬鳴處處，而且朝夕可聞，蜘蛛百合就在這熱鬧的叫聲中一支兩支⋯⋯從基部的葉腋伸出粉綠的花莖，聚生頂端的花筒潔白如雪，綻放時細長的主花冠、緊緊相連的蹼狀副花冠、蘋果綠纖細柔弱的花絲承載著有任務的花藥，這一身帶著微香的輕盈，贏得「天生麗質」的花語就不意外了。看著她們在微風中輕輕搖動的美麗身軀，想到的是深埋地下的球形鱗莖是如何努力地蓄積養分，等待蟬聲響起。