A rare yet plucky river lily blooms briefly in the summer and inspires conservationists to ensure that it will every summer hereafter.
The Cahaba lily did not choose an easy place to grow. Requiring a highly specialized habitat of swift-moving water flowing over rocks with an open canopy above, the Shoals spider lily (Hymenocallis coronaria), as it is often called, is a contrary thing. The lily did not take any evolutionary shortcuts to make its life simple. As rivers all over the Southeast were dammed in the past century, most of the lily’s habitat—and that of a host of other species—vanished under water. Perhaps that is why the Cahaba lily remains one of the most beautiful and rare aquatic flowering plants in the Southeast, perhaps in the country.
In Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, it can be found in river systems that flow over the Fall Line, that dramatic boundary between the Gulf Coastal Plain and the Appalachian Highlands. Here, waterfalls and rapids form, the rivers and creeks often changing dramatically in character from rocky Piedmont outcroppings to the softer sand and gravel banks of the lowland areas. In this transitional zone, the current drives the seeds and bulbs into crevices in rocks where they tenaciously hold on and grow, shooting roots deep to secure the flower’s place. After a winter buried in the rocks, bulbs bloom with a vengeance in mid-May. When the blooms peak in late May and early June, the effect is one of the region’s great natural beauties.
On the Cahaba River, which at 182 miles is the longest free-flowing river remaining in Alabama, the rare lily seems to almost thrive. It is certainly in exclusive company: the Cahaba River houses 64 rare and imperiled plant and animal species. Thirteen of these cannot be found anywhere else in the world. In fact, with 131 fish species, the river holds more than any other river its size in North America. Undammed and defiant, here the river and the lily make their stand.
The lily’s epicenter, Hargrove Shoals, located near the small town of Centreville, Alabama, contains the single largest lily concentration in the world. Marking the center of the river and roughly a center point for the state, this is the center of the world as far as the lily is concerned.
But that world has expanded, thanks to the work of Dr. Lawrence Davenport, Professor of Biology at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Davenport has probably studied the lily more than any person alive, and through his efforts, he has determined that the distribution of the lily is actually larger than previously thought.
“I began to study the Cahaba lily in 1989 as a candidate species for a threatened or endangered listing with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” says Davenport. “What eventually happened was that I expanded the known lily populations in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina from an initial 10 to 70.”
Davenport discovered the lily in the Black Warrior, Coosa, and Tallapoosa Rivers in Alabama; the Flint, Savannah, and Chattahoochee Rivers in Georgia; and the Broad and Catawba Rivers in South Carolina, among other river systems in these three states. But that didn’t stop the Cahaba lily from taking on a symbolic importance to those working to protect the river that gave the lily its common name.
“About 20 years ago, around the time our society was being formed, the town of West Blocton on the Cahaba River started their lily festival,” explains Dr. Randall Haddock, Field Director at the Cahaba River Society in Birmingham, a non-profit dedicated to the protection of this unique river.
“The lily immediately became symbolic of the beauty, fragility, and certainly the resilience of the Cahaba River itself,” says Haddock. “And about that time, Beth Young’s wonderful photos of the lily were so striking that folks became interested in protecting the lily and the river.”
Conservation photographer Beth Maynor Young, who since the late 1980s has captured the most iconic and best-known images of the Cahaba lily, still gets emotional when discussing the flower.
“Whenever I think about the Cahaba lilies, I still see them by myself early in the morning,” she begins. “Can you imagine if you were someone who didn’t know about the lilies and you saw them for the first time? Can you imagine a lily in the middle of the river, in rapids? Have you ever confronted any flower as pompous as that?”
It is worth pausing perhaps to consider why the beauty of the lily so resonates. Occasional blooms burst forth until late June, but the great glory is past in a blink. Its transient quality and inherent symbolism evoke a sentiment put forth by John Keats in his “Ode on Melancholy”: “She dwells with beauty, beauty that must die.”
“When you think about the fact that these grew in so many rivers in the South on the fall line before all the dams were put in and the rivers changed, it gets at you,” Young continues. Of course, Keats also said “a thing of beauty is a joy forever.” That’s a comfort, as is the fact that the Cahaba lily is more common than biologists previously thought. However, it is still a rare and threatened gem to treasure—and protect.
About the Cahaba Lily
Leaves first show above the water in early April in Alabama after spring floods. In Georgia and South Carolina it starts a bit later. Stalks begin to emerge after the leaves mature and each is topped with six to nine buds with casings. In mid-May, the flowering occurs. Each day, a fresh flower opens for the flower’s two main pollinators, the Plebeian Sphinx Moth (Paratrea plebeja) and the Pipevine Swallowtail (Battus philenor). The end result is a striking 3-inch broad, white flower whose scientific name fittingly translates to “beautiful crown-like membrane.”
Where to See the Lily:
- Lilyfest, Landsford, SC
Landsford Canal State Park
Held in mid-May
Catawba River - Rocky Shoals Spider Lily Festival, Columbia, SC
Riverfront Park
Usually last Saturday in May
Saluda, Broad, and Congaree Rivers - Cahaba Lily Festival, West Blocton, AL
Cahaba Lily Center near Cahaba National Wildlife Refuge
Usually last Saturday in May
Cahaba River
