Talk:Amaryllis

Hippeastrums, is Amaryllis

I don't know what's changed since 1911, but my mother and grandmother have both had amaryllis for as long as I can remember and, though this entry says "This is a half-hardy bulbous plant, producing in the spring a number of strap-shaped, dull green leaves, 1-1 1/2 ft. long, arranged in two rows, and in autumn a solid stem, bearing at the top a cluster of 6-12 funnel-shaped flowers," etc.

1. I've never seen it produce more than 4 flowers per stem, and frequently it produces only 2 (usually depending on the age & health of the plant) and
2. They do not always and only produce one stem; the older and larger ones can produce two stems, though usually the bulb grows to nearly the size of a grapefruit before that happens. So anyway. I've changed the text accordingly, leaving the upper limit which may indeed be the case though I've never seen it.
3. They are not always "of a rose color" (and what would that mean, anyway, since roses are not always red?) I'm not sure which genus it is my family has, but since it is sold in flower catalogs (and even at wal-mart, etc.) as "amaryllis" I defend my use of the term.  :-) Anyway. So I'm off to change that too.
4. They are not always fragrant. --Koyaanis Qatsi

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This webpage contradicts the origin being in South Africa. http://pine.usask.ca/cofa/departments/hort/hortinfo/plants/amaryll.html

It states that the initial discovery leading to widespread cultivation in the 1800s was as follows: "The amaryllis was discovered in 1828 by Eduard Frederich Poeppig, a young physician from Leipzig, on a plant hunting expedition in Chile." It also states the plant is native to the South American Andies, Chile and Peru.

It also has extensive growing instructions and descriptions of the plants that may be of use to anyone updating the article.

This webpage: http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~ppenning/origin.htm adds the Caribean and provides another name ..... "The Amaryllis or Hippeastrum, as this beautiful plant officially is called has its roots in the South American/Caribbean area." Also states over 50 varieties now under cultivation.

This source appears authoritative: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8529.html It agrees with South American origin and provides detailed cultivation instructions. user:mirwin

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A search on google (amaryllis belladonna) provides:

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantab/amarylbella.htm

This site states 12 flowers and South African origin. Also claims "Amaryllis belladonna L., Family: Amaryllidaceae, Common Name: belladonna lily, March lily, naked lady"

I think we need a botanist or expert gardener to help sort out the general information from the specific information on specific members of the families. user:mirwin

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Amaryllis flower does come mainly in a light pink color, solid white mutations have showed up in cultivation, and darker pinks and reds have been introduced through hybridization with, if I remember correctly, Crinum species and probably other species too. As of right now, those color variations and hybrids are not common though)

There is a huge misnaming mess, of both common and botanical names, amongst Amaryllis, Lycoris, Hippeastrum, and to a lesser extent, Nerine species. Most notable is the misnaming of Hippeastrums as 'Amaryllis'. This particular mixup is so widespread and ingrained even stores and nurseries who know better continue to sell Hippeastrums as 'Amaryllis' as that is what a large portion of their customer base know of them as. --Kaalnek

The image here is NOT an Amaryllis. A naked lady is Not an example Hippeastrum.

The best info I've found, along with accurate photos, is at Planting and Care Also Rochester Gardening Godinof 01:48, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Amaryllis and Hippeastrum blooming in April

I have had my Amaryllis for 1 1/2 years. It is now the middle of April, and it is in full bloom. I have 2 stems. One has 6 flowers, and the other has 4.

Is this unusual? It did not flower this past Christmas, but did bloom twice the Christmas before. I find it unusual that it is Easter and in full bloom

^^^^Sherry Canary

In the Southern Hemisphere they can bloom January through to March and possibly April - the wrm months there. Format (talk) 08:46, 18 April 2009 (UTC)

My Amaryllis flowered in Feb' this year, as normal,for some reason unknown to us it is now flowering again and it is mid July. is this an accepted occurance or is it unusual?. Thank you. Terry. Huddersfield. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.197.242.85 (talk) 10:21, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

The plants discussed here are Hippeastrum cultivars; the common name "amaryllis" is mainly used for the genus now called Hippeastrum. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:38, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

In Cape Town, South Africa where the plant is a native species it is commonly known as a March lily due to its propensity to bloom in the month of March.--Discott (talk) 10:58, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

entretien de l'amaryllis pouvez vous m'aider

on m'a offert une amaryllis pour noel. elle a fleuri et maintenant elle est defleurie. je voudrais savoir ce qu'il faut faire. faut il couper les fleurs ou les fleurs et les feuilles ? continuer à l'arroser? etc etc —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 90.1.164.171 (talk) 15:58, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

The plant mentioned here is a Hippeastrum cultivar; the common name "amaryllis" is mainly used for the genus now called Hippeastrum. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:39, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

monotypic?

I'm surprised this genus is monotypic - have the other species been reclassified to Hippeastrum? MidgleyDJ 09:48, 3 March 2007 (UTC

citing the german wikipedia:

Anschließend an die Aufspaltung wurde die Gattung lange Zeit für monotypisch gehalten, mit der Belladonnalilie als einziger Art. Erst im Jahr 1998 wurde von der Botanikerin Deirdré A. Snijman mit Amaryllis paradisicola eine zweite Art beschrieben.

Translated to english (i'm german):

since the split this genus has long been thought to be monotypic, with Belladonna Lily as the only species. Until recently in 1998 the botanist Deirdré A. Snijman described a second species: Amaryllis paradisicola

maybe someone with better english than me can fix this in the article? :) Aditu (talk) 21:23, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

The article does now mention the second species. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:39, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Trivia?

It looks like clarifying the name confusion and latin classification is being called trivia. Or was the trivia already removed? In any case, the name confusion around genus Amaryllis, and broad use of the popular name Amaryllis, is important content. It's counter-intuitive to anyone shopping at Wallmart, Home Depot, or any plant nursery in the United States. It runs counter to the naming in the nursery industry. FourerDR 22:54, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

This has been fixed in the article, I think: see the section below. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:40, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Common as well as botanical usage for neutrality

"Amaryllis" in common usage refers to a plant that in botanically classified as xxx. The U.S. National Arboretum http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/faqs/AmaryllisBloom.html specifically writes "Amaryllis are bulbs of the genus Hippeastrum that are native to tropical and subtropical areas of the Americas." The University of Florida similarly uses "Amaryllis" to refer to the Hippeastrum edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep060. I believe that the previous "It should not be confused with Hippeastrum" is a non-neutral statement about whether common usage is correct or not. I rewrote to make clear to the lay reader what the issue is. I'm almost certain most readers coming to this page use the term in its most common meaning, as do most nurseries. But I left the article describing the botanical Amaryllis but with a clear note at the top for those looking for the plant as sold. DaveBurstein (talk) 06:21, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

I guess it depends on how the statement "it should not be confused" was read: was it merely pointing out that there are two different uses of the word, namely Amaryllis the gender and amaryllis the common name? Or was it an instruction to the reader, meaning "you should not confuse", which is inappropriate to Wikipedia? I read it the first way, but as it can be read the second way, I agree that some re-writing was needed. I've now done a bit more, explaining that the way the common name is used is connected to earlier scientific disagreement over the two generic names. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:25, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Reference to Herbert Medal and Mulford B. Foster

It's clear that Mulford B. Foster was not awarded the Herbert Medal for work on hybridizing the genus Amaryllis, as the article claimed, but either for work on hybridizing amaryllids generally (i.e. what are now members of the subfamily Amaryllidoideae) or for work on hybridizing Hippeastrum (then known, particularly in the US, as Amaryllis – see this Bulb Society web page). I've removed the section from here, but as I can't find out which of the two possibilities are correct, I can't move it elsewhere. In case someone can, there's a copy of the text of the section below – I have moved the reference from the end of the last sentence because it does not support the last phrase. Peter coxhead (talk) 11:24, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

The Herbert Medal is offered annually by the International Bulb Society and is considered the highest honor that a person can receive for noteworthy achievements in advancing the knowledge of bulbous plants. In 1951 this award was given to Mulford B. Foster (ref = The Herbert Medal) for his outstanding work with amaryllis.

Scope

Since this is the genus page, details that relate to A belladonna should probably be transferred there --Michael Goodyear (talk) 22:20, 1 April 2015 (UTC)

In principle, yes, although the genus was monospecific for a long time, and the second species is poorly known. What in particular did you want to move? Peter coxhead (talk) 16:47, 2 April 2015 (UTC)

External links modified

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Frost tolerance?

This article says that Amaryllis is not frost tolerant but I grow them in a mild frost area and know people who grow them in areas of heavy winter (e.g. Indiana USA). Does anyone have a good reference on frost tolerance who can edit the page? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Haresfur (talk • contribs) 21:12, 17 February 2018 (UTC)

Latest revision as of 20:45, 16 September 2018 (edit) (undo) (thank) DSWebb (talk | contribs) (Picture is of a Hippeastrum not Amaryllis)

@DSWebb: Are you sure? Btw: A Hippeastrum is an Amaryllis isn't it? --Neptuul (talk) 18:18, 23 September 2018 (UTC)

@Neptuul: DSWebb is quite correct. You need to distinguish between the ordinary English use of the word "amaryllis" (no italics, no capital) and the scientific use of the genus name "Amaryllis". For historical reasons, the Hippeastrum grown as a house plant, especially at Christmas, is called an "amaryllis" in ordinary English. However, it's not in the same genus as true Amaryllis species. The history is explained in some detail at Hippeastrum#Separation of Hippeastrum from Amaryllis. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:20, 24 September 2018 (UTC)

Amaryllis vs. Hippeastrum debate

I think that it would be better to move the full version of the big Amaryllis vs. Hippeastrum debate from Hippeastrum to Amaryllis and even expand it, devoting it a separate section. In Hippeastrum we may leave just a reference to that section. The expansion may give details about what species have been Amaryllis, when they have been transferred to other genera and so on, in the line of Sealy, Goldblat and Meerow. Lantonov (talk) 07:53, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

Common usage calls Hippeastrum cultivars "amaryllis". I'm not aware of any confusion the other way round, i.e. calling Amaryllis species and cultivars "hippeastrum". So I believe that it's at Hippeastrum that it needs to be explained that it is not Amaryllis, because that's the direction of the confusion.

But there could be a list of "former Amaryllis species" in this article; such lists will be found in other articles. Peter coxhead (talk) 08:19, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

This can be also the other way round. My reason for proposing it is that the user usually encounters something like "Amaryllis flower" without any genus or species name given. So she/he (they?) googles for "amaryllis" and up pops the article Amaryllis. Reading through it they may encounter the warning that their flower may be actually Hippeastrum (or something else: Amaryllis was moved to different genera at some time or another, for example, Brunsvigia, Sternbergia, even Pancratium, etc.) but they must hop to another article (not necessarily Hippeastrum) to find exactly why this is so. If their flower turns out to be a true amaryllis, they must go back to Amaryllis to see desription, conditions for growing, etc. Lantonov (talk) 09:21, 19 October 2020 (UTC)

Amaryllis

Are they toxic to dogs or cats 69.247.255.160 (talk) 19:14, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

https://www.petpoisonhelpline.com/poison/amaryllis/ https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/poisonous-plant-hippeastrum/ Monotropan (talk) 02:57, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

Where does the "bitter" meaning come from?

Where does this meaning come from: "also from amarella for the bitterness of the bulb"? It cites this https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/13838#page/185/mode/thumb maybe. I can't read Latin, but I think it's something like the plant is called Amarella when the root is bitter. Amarum is bitter in latin, according to google translate. I imagine it's not unusual for a root to have a bitter taste. Maybe it should say the plant is also called Amarella because of the bitterness of the root and that that is Latin not Greek. Monotropan (talk) 02:57, 26 June 2022 (UTC)

I can't see any support for the bitterness claim in the references given, so I've removed it. Peter coxhead (talk) 10:27, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Reference to The Language of Flowers

The article references The Language of Flowers meaning as "'love, beauty, and determination', and can also represent hope and achievement" but the source is questionable. Going off this archive of the Language of Flowers, Amaryllis is only listed on page 138 (158 by PDF Page). https://ia601201.us.archive.org/33/items/cu31924067884126/cu31924067884126.pdf

I means Pride and elaborates "Gardeners call this beautiful plant proud, because it often refuses to flower under careful culture." Trishiness (talk) 17:59, 24 March 2024 (UTC)