Amaryllis paradisicola
Jim Lykos (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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