Lycoris longituba
James Waddick (Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:27:12 PDT)

Dear Jim McK,
What you describe seem to fit along a continuum of L.
longituba x L. chinensis hybrids maybe even a touch of L. sprengeri.
These interbreed freely in the wild.

You didn't mention, but I'll ask. Are the tepals completely
smooth, wide and rounded or do they show ruffled (even slightly)
edges, pointed tips and narrow width? The latter suggest some hybrid
influences.

Any of these hybrid whether more toward either type are very
lovely garden flowers. They tend to have very tall stems and multiply
well to form nice clumps in the garden.

I think the generalities are obvious: The season (and /or
maturation of the bulb and flower stem), and rainfall. I don't think
temperature. They can bloom just as timely when it is blazing hot as
it has been here with temps in mid-to upper 90s F as when we have a
rare cool spell in the 70s.

I have definitely seen a coincidence with rainfall. Light
rain seems less influential than a heavy rain -1/2 inch or more.
Heavy rain not only in followed by first stems, but seems to
encourage multiple and secondary stems to emerge.

This is just my experience and based on what has been shown
to trigger bloom in other species.

Best Jim W.

--
Dr. James W. Waddick
8871 NW Brostrom Rd.
Kansas City Missouri 64152-2711
USA
Ph. 816-746-1949
Zone 5 Record low -23F
Summer 100F +