Hippeastrum warscewiczianum

[Carlos]

Second research on taxonomy of Hippeastrum, this one was even more fun as it involved transcribing a German text in gothic script into "good" latin alphabet and asking help of another member, Uli, for translation, and another member (or two) for an old paper, Michael Hormick.

In the book Hippeastrum in Bolivia, Lara & al. said (a bit carelessly, for my way of working) that H. warscewiczianum is a synonym of H. mandonii. Then they say that, well, maybe not.

So Carlos thought "there is something going on here" and he went to the original sources.

H. mandonii is easy if you have someone to scan the journal, and I fortunately did. The description is rather lousy but there is an explcit mention to a specimen, which resulted to be several duplicates of a gathering by Mandon near Sorata, in the La Paz department, in the pre-Andes at 2700 m (8800-9000 ft).

Some of the specimens are in a very poor state but some still show the red-tipped petals and the falcate shape of the outer lower tepals. So it was clear, the plant described as H,. mandonii is this:

H. mandonii PBS Wiki

Specimen in Kew Herbarium:

H, mandonii Kew

H. mandonii Paris

I will finish later...

[Carlos]

So after that I was lucky enough to find issue 23 of Allgemeine Gartenzeitung (1855) on the Biodiversity
Heritage Library, without which I would still be just looking after some pots. This is where Dietrich described Hippeastrum warscewiczianum.

Sorry, Uli and Martin, but I was not gladly surprised when I saw a paper in German and Gothic script.

I quickly asked poor Uli and he agreed to translate but had visitors and later I discovered that in a bigger screen I could read it, so I transcribed, google-translated it, and sent it with some adjustments.

Uli said that it had worked and there is still a part pending but I can't wait.

The plant is described as follows (some parts ommitted):

This hippeastrum belongs to the bare-throated division, where there is no paraperigone in the throat, and would differ from the species present in this division by the following characteristics:

Hippeastrum foliis lineari-lanceolatis epruinosis, scapo rorido compresso longioribus; floribus terminalibus geminatis erecto-patentibus; perigonio subregulari campanulato-infundibuliformi usque ad basin sexpartito, laciniis exterioribus latioribus spathulato-lanceolatis carinatis mucronatis, interioribius angustioribus lanceolatis acutis; staminibus stylisque non exertis, lobulis stigmatis minimis subglobosis.

The tepals are dark red above, whitish-green below; the three outer ones are the broader ones, spatulate-lanceolate, one and a half inches wide at the top, with a green stripe on the back which is slightly prominent below [...].The red colour in all of them [the tepals] runs like a stripe down the edge, while the green central stripe merges deeply into the red in the middle. Paraperigone absent.

...Mr. von Warscewicz found this species in Bolivia on the Madeira River in association with several other bulbous plants [e.g. Stenomesson miniatum]. According to its habitat and location, it requires constant warmth, a fairly high level of moisture and a rich soil...

So we have:

1. A 'subregular' perianth. The flowers of mandon⁹ii are strongly zygomorphic, like in other members of the glaucescens complex, and I doubt that anyone would described them as 'subregular'.

2. It lacks a paraperigone. I don't know if mandonii has one...

3. The red-tipped tepals, green below would agree with mandonii, but in mandonii there is no 'green central stripe merging into the red', unless this is a mistake in the translaton (in the original: die rothe Färbung bei allen sich wie ein Streifen am Rande herabziehend, während der grüne Mittelstreifen in der Mitte tief in das Rothe übergeht. Der Kranz an der Basis der Blumentrone fehlt. )

4. A lobed, not trifid stigma. Again I'n sure of how it is in mandonii...

 5. The Madeira river begins nowadays (not 100% sur) at the other side of the Bolivian border, already in Brazil, in tbe Amazon basin. One of its tributaries is the Beni river, which comes down from La Paz department, and of which the river Challasuyo, where true mandonii occurs is a tributary. But the climate and flora at 2700 m is totally different.

There could be a mistake in the location of the place, as Stenomesson miniatum occurs at medium elevation (for the Andes).

Dietrich and Lara & al. mention dried specimens, but I still have not located any.

So the mystery goes on, but I am quite convinced that probably warscewiczianum is not the same as mandonii.

What is it? Maybe something similar to this plant:

.