Dear All, In the September 2004 Veld & Flora Cameron and Rhoda McMaster published an article: An assortment of Haemanthus: five species and various forms of this interesting bulbous plant from the Eastern Cape. Cameron has expanded this article for an introduction to the topic of the week. He has also provided 18 new pictures for the wiki of some of the species described in that article and this introduction. All of our messages have to be in text, but I have saved his Introduction, which will be in two parts since it is long, in htm format and will link it on the wiki Haemanthus page for those of you who might want to print it out with the formatting intact. Here is the first part: Haemanthus L. (Amaryllidaceae) TOW Confined to South Africa and Namibia, the 22 currently known Haemanthus species are characteristically fleshy, often hairy plants, well known for their compact, brush-like inflorescences. Their specialised fruits are berries which contain a few large, moisture-rich seeds. Bulbs of Haemanthus were amongst the first plants gathered at the Cape and subsequently cultivated in the gardens of Europe. The earliest known description appeared in 1605 where plants (probably H. coccineus and H. sanguineus) were given the phrase name Narcissus Africanus sive Narcissus exoticus. The name Haemanthus was first proposed by Hermann in 1687 and thereafter appeared in many publications in the form of Haemanthus africanus. Baker published a taxonomic treatment of Haemanthus in Flora Capensis (1896), which included Scadoxus. In a brief review of the genus by Friis and Norval in 1976, the generic limits of the Haemanthus were amended and the genus Scadoxus reinstated. As presently circumscribed, Haemanthus includes only species with true bulbs, distichous fleshy leaves and a chromosome complement of 16. The last comprehensive taxanomic treatment of Haemanthus was by Dr Dierdré Snijman of the Compton Herbarium, Kirstenbosch, Cape Town, published in 1984 (Journal of South African Botany, Supplementary Volume No. 12), from which much of the information in this introduction is taken. She lists 21 species in this revision and subsequently described one further species (Haemanthus pauculifolius). Of the 22 species, 14 occur exclusively in the winter rainfall region with a concentration of species in the dry Namaqualand region of the North West Cape. Six species occur exclusively in the summer rainfall region and there are two species which overlap into both regions, namely H. coccineus which has the widest range extending from Namaqualand to the Keiskamma River in the Eastern Cape and H. albiflos which is a summer rainfall species, extending as far west as Still Bay in the winter rainfall region. Most species bear two leaves each year. The shape, pubescence, markings and orientation are valuable taxinomically. In the evergreen species H. albiflos and H. deformis, leaves persist beyond a year, resulting in 4 to 6 visible leaves. The majority of individuals in H. unifoliatus and H. nortieri and H. pauculifolius have only a solitary leaf, but in the latter species, being evergreen, the leaf persists and may exhibit two leaves. Haemanthus flowers are borne in an umbel surrounded by membranous to fleshy spathe valves, the position, number and texture of which is taxinomically important. The fruit is a globose to elliptical berry which when ripe is soft, pulpy and often translucent varying in colour white, yellow, orange, red and various shades of pink, depending on the species. The seeds are succulent, smooth and greenish-white to wine red. Dr Dee Snijman, in her article "What makes Southern Africa’s Amaryllidaceae special" in the IBSA Bulletin No. 42 (1994), describes the seed dispersal as follows: "When in fruit the scape of Haemanthus elongates and gradually flops to the ground. The funicle which holds the seed to the fruit wall produces copious mucilage, aiding germination by protecting the seed from desiccation. This mode of dispersal is thought to be one in which the seeds are shed in "safe-sites", namely patches close to the parents’ suitable habitat. This strategy maximises the suitability of the niche in which the seed is deposited which in turn maximises seedling survival. However, the species’ ability to spread is limited." It was always a puzzle to me how plants of H. humilis could become established on almost vertical places between the rock strata on cliffs where they grow. When handling ripe seed, we soon realised that this is due to fact that the seeds are connected to sticky threads that enable them to adhere to virtually any surface and, under favourable conditions they become rooted seedlings. This feature is probably common to other cliff growing species. (to be continued) Cameron McMaster africanbulbs at haznet.co.za