Spider Lily

Hymenocallis liriosme

Hills guide picknative · Central Texas

Spider Lily is a perennial native to Central Texas that grows 1–2 ft tall and 1–2 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low to medium water, and handles clay soil. Blooms white in mid spring. Deer rarely browse it. Good for birds.

Wet ground only. A wetland plant: it needs standing water or saturated soil — a pond edge, creek bank or rain garden, not a dry upland bed.

Will it grow in your yard?

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From our guide

Village of the Hills

Strap-leaved bulb producing large fragrant white flowers with a spidery fringed cup.

Why it works here

Extraordinary flowers, and it thrives in the wet spot or ditch that defeats other plants.

Watch out

Wants consistent moisture — not a dry-yard plant. Foliage yellows and flops after bloom.

The facts

7 sources

Type: Perennial
Sun: Full sun to part shade (3+ hrs)
Water: Low to medium
Height: 1–2 ft
Spread: 1–2 ft
Bloom: Mid Spring · white
Foliage: Deciduous
Soil: Takes clay · recorded on clay, loam, moist, sand
Deer: High — deer rarely browse it. Alkaloid-bearing bulb foliage; not browsed.
Wildlife: Supports birds

Size, sun, water and foliage from the Village of the Hills guide; the rest resolved across sources.

Where it grows

Recorded in this EPA Level IV ecoregion in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Floodplains and Low Terraces

7 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

In the Village of the Hills guide, but not on the grower stock lists we read yet. Ask a native-plant nursery.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.