Amaryllis images

Mary Sue Ittner msittner@mcn.org
Mon, 18 Jul 2005 17:38:46 PDT
Dear Carol,

I keep wondering if when you refer to Amaryllis if what you are really 
meaning is Hippeastrum. Amaryllis is a common name often used for 
Hippeastrum. The Amaryllis Mike Mace put on the wiki were hybrids that Les 
Hanibal created from Amaryllis belladonna which is a South African plant. 
Amaryllis belladonna is a late summer early fall blooming plant that sends 
us a stalk before the leaves appear after a period of drought. This is why 
some people refer to it as a Naked Lady. When people used this name on our 
list there were some people questioning that term since it is a common name 
for other plants like Lycoris.

On our list we generally refer to plants by their botanical names. Since we 
are a world wide group and common names are not always the same around the 
world, we hope to know what people are talking about by sticking for the 
most part to botanical names. Of course if the botanical names are changed 
all the time, that doesn't always work. I think Hippeastrum was once 
considered Amaryllis so that may be the source of the confusion.

Look at our Hippeastrum wiki pages and see if the illustrations on those 
page are the plants you are talking about when you write about the 
Amaryllis you grow.

Mary Sue


More information about the pbs mailing list