HIPPEASTRUM

Hippeastrum Herb., Appendix. 31. 1821; Wikipedia Holmes, Flora North Amer. @ eFloras. org 26: 55. 282.

Perennial herbs, bulbiferous, bulbs tunicate and ca. 5-12 cm in diameter; leaves few, 2-7, basal, sessile, liguliform, fleshy, entire, apex tapering, evergreen or deciduous and hysteranthous (develop after flowering). Inflorescence an umbel with 2-15 flowers at the top of scape; scape erect, hollow, 20-75 cm x 2.5-5 cm, spathe of 2 bracts enclosing young flowers. Flowers large, 13-20 cm across, showy, bisexual, more or less zygomorphic, funnelform and declinate (curving downwards and then upwards at the tip). Perianth 6, in two whorls of 3 each, connate at the base, tube short; outer perianth segments slightly shorter than inner whorl or all similar; red, purple or different shades in many hybrids. Stamens 6, inserted on perianth tube; filaments filiform, equal or subequal, fasciculate (in close bundles), declinate or ascendant; anthers dorsifixed or versatile. Ovary inferior, 3-locular, many ovules per loculus; style slender, filiform, about equalling tepals; stigma trifid. Fruit a capsule, 3- valved, dehiscence loculicidal; seeds few to many, dry, flattened, obliquely winged or irregularly discoid, occasionally globose or subglobose.

111 species

Hippeastrum x johnsonii

Hippeastrum x johnsonii (Gowen) Herb., Amaryllidaceae.142. 1837; Amaryllis x johnsonii Gowen, Trans Hort. Soc. London 4: 498. 1822 Hippeastrum x grahamii Herb., Amaryllidaceae 143. 1837.

Herb, perennial, scapose, glabrous, bulbiferous, bulbs tunicate, 5-12 cm in diameter. Leaves few, evergreen, 3-9 per bulb, basal, sessile; leaf blade liguliform, 30-90 cm x 2.5-5 cm, fleshy, parallel-veined, margin entire, apex tapering. Inflorescence umbellate with 2-7 flowers at apex of scape, scape hollow, 20-75 cm x 2.5-3 cm; spathe of 2 bracts, up to ca. 7 cm x 3 cm enclosing young flowers, membranous; flower bracts linear, up to 7 cm x 0.4 cm. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic or slightly zygomorphic, epigynous, scarlet, showy, large, up to 15 cm long, 13-20 cm across, funnelform, declinate. Pedicels 5-7.5 cm long, thick, fleshy. Tepals 6, in 2 whorls, connate proximally into a tube and perianth funnelform, tepals of outer whorl larger, 12.5-14 cm x 5.5-6.5 cm than tepals of inner whorl, 12-13.5 cm x 3.5-5 cm, somewhat elliptical with thickened acute apex, all tepals scarlet with whitish mid stripe proximally on adaxial surface producing star-like pattern in centre of flower, perianth with minute corona reduced to small crown with fimbriae (PARAPERIGONIUM) inserted on throat of perianth. Stamens 6, inserted on perianth tube, opposite to tepals, fasciculate, declinate, subequal; filaments slender, ca. 8 cm long, broad at base, gradually tapering towards apex, distal half orange-scarlet and whitish in proximal half; anthers 7-8(-20) mm x 3(-4) mm, oblong, bithecous, dehiscence longitudinal. Ovary inferior, 15-20 mm x ca. 8 mm, ellipsoid, 3-angled, 3-locular, many ovules in 2 longitudinal rows in each loculus, placentation axile; style slender, nearly equalling tepals, orange-scarlet in distal half and whitish in proximal half; stigma 3-fid. Fruit capsular, ellipsoid to ovoid, loculicidal, 3-valvular. Seeds many, ca. 2 cm x 1.5 cm, compressed, irregularly discoid, black.

Flowering and Fruiting: April to June
Common Names: Johnson’s Amaryllis, Hardy Amaryllis, St. Joseph’s Lily