Amaryllis paradisicola

Jim Lykos jimlykos@optusnet.com.au
Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:13:10 PDT
Hi Lee,

A. paradisicola was described in Bothalia 28 - 2 (1998) 
There are some fine morphological  differences between paradisicola  and belladonna but the most visible ones are that paradisicola has  leaves that  are broad and tongue like (6 to 9 leaves hysteranthous and distichous) - rosulate when mature and quite wide and channeled, with short patent hairs on both sides of the leaves. The inner stamens are also longer than in belladonna and the outer stamens are longer than the inner by 15mm.The stigma is also more distinctively trifid than belladonna.  The flowers  have a Narcissus like scent.
Has 10 to 21 flowers that are a uniformly purplish pink that darken with age and they are arranged in a ringet.   
In distinction to the  moister Cape areas where Amaryllis belladonna is found - paradisicola is adapted to a relatively cool montane arid habitat. It  grows in quartzite cliffs, and narrow rock ledges with partly vegetated screes that provide some shade.
They  bloom in mid autumn (April) if after a long dry there has been rainfall in March (beginning of autumn). 
The cultivated collection was held at Kirstenbosch Bot. Garden  nursery. An excellent image of paradisicola taken at Kirstenbosch can be found in the Plant Delights web site.

http://plantdelights.com/gallery/SouthAfrica2005/…

Cheers
Jim Lykos
Sydney Australia

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Lee Poulsen 
  To: Pacific Bulb Society 
  Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 3:55 PM
  Subject: [pbs] Amaryllis paradisicola


  Does anyone have this plant or seeds of this plant? Or know of any  
  source of bulbs or seeds of this plant?
  What about pictures of the flowers? How does it differ from A.  
  belladonna?

  --Lee Poulsen
  Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a



  On Oct 12, 2006, at 5:52 PM, Jim Lykos wrote:

  > Hi
  >
  > There is a Amaryllis belladonna - (pure species) pale pink coloured  
  > that multiplies rapidly and rarely flowers without fire.  I learnt  
  > from a Spring back burning operation of bushland gully adjoining my  
  > property a couple of years ago that the smoke does induce it to  
  > flower quite heavily - but since then only 5 to 10% of mature bulbs  
  > will flower under ordinary garden culture.
  > A  new species Amaryllis paradisicola was described  by Snijman in  
  > 1998 ( found in the Richtersveld in Namaqualand)  is regarded as  
  > only flowering after bush fires.  It was collected in 1972 - and  
  > didnt flower in cultivation until 1995! A long wait until they  
  > worked out how to induce flowering.
  >
  > Jim Lykos
  > Sydney Australia

  --Lee Poulsen
  Pasadena, California, USA, USDA Zone 10a



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