Abstract
1) In Japan hamaomoto exists in the coast along which warm currents flow. It is one of the plants mentioned in the ancient Manyoshu Anthology, and is today strictly protected by law as a natural monument.
2) Hamaomoto grows taller and bears more aromatic flowers than any other plant of its genus Crinum Linn.
3) The poisonous element of hamaomoto is Licoline, an alkaloid, whose medical value is little known in Japan.
4) The seed of hamaomoto floats on water with its embryo part down because this part has heavier gravity, and is carried ashore by the warm current. The mode of distribution resembles that of the coconut palm. Niemon Island (Habutojima on map) off Boso Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture, is known as one of the northmost limit, where the yearly average temperature is 15°C and the year's average of the lowest temperatures is -3.5°C. The latter average temperature is quite constant there.
5) Both hamaomoto and its original species Crinum asiaticum require similar climatic and soil conditions for growth.
