Lycoris squamigera origins

In Cooke and YenLeng's paper , Notes on Lycoris Species, (circa 2001)
the authors cite Inariyama (1948) and Takemura (1961) in saying that L.
squamigera is a allotriploid hybrid between L. sprengeri and L. straminea.

In Furuta's 1989 Chromosomal Evolution in the Genus Lycoris, he refers
to the fact that Takemura confirmed Inariyama's hypothesis about the
origin of L. squamigera, which is derived from L. straminea and L.
sprengeri. Unfortunately one putative parent of L. straminea was not
available in the present study..."

In Hsu Pin-Sheng's 1994, Synopsis of the Genus Lycoris, he writes,
"Based on karyological and morphological studies, Inariyama considered
this sterile species (L. squamigera) a triploid hybrid between L.
straminea and L. sprengeri. Takemura crossed L. straminea and L.
sprengeri. The hybrids resembled L. squamigera in gross morphology, but
they were all diploids."

In the Japanese article, "Cultivars or Artificial Hybrids (can't read
Japanese to determine the authors name)
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~lycoris/… , the
author states, "*YUGIRI* (left bulb) is a hybrid between /L. logituba/
and /L. sprengeri/, which produced by S. Komoriya. The karyotype is
2n=19=3M+5T+11A. YUGIRI is somewhat similar to /L. squamigera/."

Either the bulb we grow today as L. straminea or the bulb that Inariyama
grew as this species was incorrect, as the plant we grow today is not
the parent of L. squamigera.

Tony Avent**
Plant Delights Nursery @
Juniper Level Botanic Garden
9241 Sauls Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA
Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F
Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F
USDA Hardiness Zone 7b
email tony@plantdelights.com
website http://www.plantdelights.com/
phone 919 772-4794
fax 919 772-4752
"I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent

Jim McKenney wrote:

Anita asked “Does anyone know who first discovered Lycoris squamigera and
when and where?

I'd be interested in knowing its background.”

Anita, I don’t think it is possible to answer the question the way you have
asked it. What I mean is that what we know as Lycoris squamigera is probably
an old garden plant. There must have been a first someone who noticed this
good garden plant, but I’ll bet that no information about that survives.

Its history in the west is roughly this: it was named in 1885 by Karl Johann
Maximowicz (Russian botanist of St. Petersburg, 1827-1891). He was a great
authority on the flora of Asia.

In the United States it was introduced independently by the physician Dr.
George R. Hall who had been stationed in China and collected plants there
and in Japan. As a result of this introduction, for a long time it was known
in this country as Amaryllis hallii.

Various explanations have been given for the etymology of the word Lycoris;
the name appears in the poems of Ovid.

Jim McKenney

jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7

My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/

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