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/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/