Vol. 13 (1990): 21 — 22
The Beach Lily (Crinum asiaticum) in the
Central Highlands of Papua New Guinea”
Joachim Sterly

Names of the Beach Lily among the Simbu
Pap (Kamanuku 1971)%, papi (Kuglkane 1971),
papo (Nareku, Siambugla, AUFENANGER
1961), papf (Dagl 1980).
Vernacular names in other parts of the Central
 Highlands
Papu (Kapma, Sinasina 1981), baurabe bil
(Nimai, Sinasina, HIDE 1979, Crinum sp.), pep
(Damba, Danga, Wahgi 1980), yimane, i-mane
(Maring, Jimi, RAPPAPORT 1968; CLARKE
1971, Crinum sp.), pokaan (Medlpa, Mt. Hagen
1971, STOPP 1963, C. macrantherum); for vernacular
 names in Melanesia see STERLY
1970:111.

Vernacular names in Indonesia
The most common vernacular name in Indonesia,
 Malaysia and the Philippines is bakung,
bakong (DE CLERCQ 1909:211; QUISUMB-ING
 1978:171).

Botanical data
Crinum asiaticum L., Amaryllidaceae, Ega
1530m, garden, cultivated, 8.8.1971, Sterly 71—
78; beach lily or „asiatische Hakenlilie‘“, perennial
 herb, about 1 to 2 m high, leaves linear-lanceolate
 with fleshy base, flower fragrant, white,
with 6 narrow, up to 10 cm long lobes radiating
from a flat round perianth, 7 mauve stames up
to 5 cm long, bearing 2 cm long beige anthers,
bulbous root up to 12 cm in diameter or larger,
the watery juice of the white flesh of which
smells of fresh green bean, but somewhat unpleasantly.
 Besides C. asiaticum (SCHUMANN
und LAUTERBACH 1901:222; STERLY
1970: 110f.; PAUMANS 1976:29) C. macrantherum
 Engl. is mentioned from New Guinea
and the Bismarck Archipelago (SCHUMANN
und LAUTERBACH 1901:222; STOPP
1963:20; HARTLEY 1973:236). According to
SCHUMANN this species is endemic in New
Guinea, however, I did not find any differences
between both species when investigating the
specimens in question together with M.M.J. van

Balgooy in the Rijksherbarium at Leiden in October
 1987,
Ethnobotany
This beautiful lily-like plant is cultivated as ornamental
 in gardens and near houses mostly by
women. The juice of the broken leaf is an excellent
 remedy for cracked lips and heels, papi
yaundo nuglo duglo dirano katno beye bumbun
gegumara kirai belkwa (Sundu Koglia 1971®;
STERLY 1973:155f.). In Mt. Hagen the white
sheat-like base of the leaf is worn by dancers and
warriors as headdress being suitable also for
covering wounds and burns, while its juice is
used for treating woundings (F, Yakegla 1971;
STOPP 1963:20).
The tuberous root is said to be an effective
„pig medicine“ (bugla kirai), given to pigs to
make them grow fat. Among the Kamanuku a
woman may cook a piece of the root together
with sweet potatoes which she feeds to the pig;
in Mitnande (upper Simbu) the „father of the
pig‘“ (bugla nem) squeezes some of the juice
(mem nuglo) on a cooked sweet potato and gives
it the animal to eat, bugla nem papi mem nuglo
ogai dongwa wagle bugla kirai tongwa (Au
Nime, S. Koglia 1971; A. Korumba 1980;
STERLY 1979:395; STERLY 1987:44-48).
Amold Korumba told me that a man who
spent the night with a woman should pass water
at a papi-lily in the morning to remain healthy
and not to grow old untimely (A. Korumba
1980). This custom corresponds with a therapeutic
 use of the root in Malaysia, mentioned by
GIMLETTE and THOMSON (1971:10): „Bakong.root
 is used by Malays in an occult ceremony
 for loss of virility in the male.“
In Ga gugl in the Wahgi valley the papo-lily
was planted ritually to protect people from falling
 ill, as the Nareku-man Taglmba reported to
AUFENANGER (1961:401): „If the lightning
has struck a tree, the men cook a pig or some rats
in an earth-oven, They plant a papo bulb and
some red cordyline near the trunk of the tree
struck by the lightning. Around the tree a magi-